Three Iranian asylum seekers charged with espionage in UK

Three Iranian men accused of spying on behalf of Tehran entered the United Kingdom through irregular routes — including by small boats and via a lorry — before seeking asylum.

The suspects, who appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 17, are charged with “engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service” between August 2024 and February 2025, Caliber.Az reports via British media.

The charges stem from a counter-terrorism investigation conducted by UK authorities. Police have confirmed that the alleged foreign state involved is Iran.

The three men — Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55 — are accused of targeting journalists affiliated with Iran International, a Persian-language independent media outlet based in London that is frequently critical of the Iranian regime.

Sepahvand, who resides in St John’s Wood, London, faces an additional charge for carrying out surveillance, reconnaissance, and open-source research with the intent of enabling “serious violence against a person in the UK.”

Manesh, from Kensal Rise, and Noori, from Ealing, are also accused of carrying out surveillance and reconnaissance “with the intention that acts, namely serious violence against a person in the UK, would be committed by others,” according to police.

None of the men entered a plea during their court appearance. All three wore grey sweatshirts; Sepahvand was in a wheelchair, and Noori walked with a limp into the dock. The court ordered them held in custody until their next appearance at the Old Bailey, scheduled for June 6.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said the charges were of an “extremely serious” nature.

“Since the men were arrested two weeks ago, detectives have been working around the clock, and we have worked closely with colleagues in the Crown Prosecution Service to reach this point,” Murphy said. “Now that these men have been charged, I would urge people not to speculate about this case, so that the criminal justice process can run its course.”

A fourth Iranian man, aged 31, who had also been arrested during the investigation, was released on Thursday with no further action taken.

In response to the charges, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper issued a strong statement, saying: “Iran must be held to account for its actions. We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil.”

Cooper added that the government will next week release the findings of an independent review into the UK’s counter-terrorism framework. The review, led by a barrister, was commissioned to examine how well existing laws respond to modern state threats.

Separately, in an unrelated investigation, five Iranian men aged between 29 and 46 were arrested earlier this month by counter-terror police in a series of raids across Greater Manchester, London, and Swindon. Four of those individuals remain in custody, while one has been released on bail under strict conditions.

UK security agencies have voiced growing concern about Iranian state-linked activity in recent years. In October 2024, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said the agency had disrupted at least 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots since 2022 and warned of a likely “increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK.”

By Tamilla Hasanova