UK court convicts two Iranian men of spying on Iran International journalists

Overview

Updated 53 minutes ago

From August 2024 to March 2025, Mostafa Sepahvand photographed the homes and offices of Iranian journalists in London. On November 12, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court found he had done it for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that he intended to carry out a violent attack on at least one target.

His co-defendant, Farhad Javadi Manesh, was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service. A third man, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, was acquitted of all charges. Both convicted men are due to be sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on December 17.

The case is the fourth in three years involving threats to staff at Iran International, the Persian-language broadcaster Tehran has banned. It also produced a courtroom first: prosecutors presented a defendant's ChatGPT search history in a state-threat trial.

Why it matters

Britain is prosecuting Iranian intelligence work on its own soil, and the targets are journalists whose addresses and pets' names ended up in briefing files.

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Key Indicators

Defendants convicted

Both found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act 2023.

Defendant acquitted

Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, of Ealing, was cleared of all charges.

£150,000

Sum promised to Sepahvand

He told an Iranian contact he had been offered the money to 'finish off' a target.

534 GB

Data seized by police

Messages, video and voice notes in Farsi had to be translated for the trial.

Iran International cases since late 2023

Counter Terrorism Policing says this is the fourth recent case involving direct threats to the broadcaster's journalists.

14 years

Maximum penalty for assisting the IRGC

Britain has designated the Revolutionary Guard as a threat to national security.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Mostafa Sepahvand

Convicted spy and would-be attacker

Awaiting sentencing on December 17, 2026

Farhad Javadi Manesh

Convicted spy

Awaiting sentencing on December 17, 2026

Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori

Acquitted co-defendant

Cleared of all charges

Vicki Evans

Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Counter Terrorism Policing

Senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing

Jonathan Turner

Founding member, UK Lawyers for Israel

Surveillance target

Organizations Involved

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

Paramilitary force

Designated by the UK as a threat to national security

Iran's multi-discipline military force, which British prosecutors say tasked the surveillance operation through Iranian phone contacts.

Iran International

Persian-language television broadcaster

Repeated target of Iranian operations in the UK

A London-based Persian-language broadcaster banned by Tehran, whose journalists have been the focus of four recent UK cases.

Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP)

UK police counter-terror network

Led the investigation

The national police network that arrested the defendants and built the case from 534 gigabytes of seized data.

Crown Prosecution Service

Public prosecution service for England and Wales

Prosecuted the case

The state prosecutor, which argued the surveillance was a calculated operation run for Iranian intelligence.

UK Lawyers for Israel

Legal advocacy group

One of its founding members was a surveillance target

A UK legal advocacy organisation whose founding member Jonathan Turner was among those surveilled.

Timeline

2023 December 2026

7 events Latest: Today

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December 2026
Sentencing scheduled at the Central Criminal Court
Upcoming Legal

Both convicted men are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey.
December 17th, 2026
November 2026
Jury convicts two men at Woolwich Crown Court
Today Legal

Sepahvand is found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service and of preparing violence; Manesh of assisting a foreign intelligence service. Noori is acquitted.
Today
July 2026
Two Romanian men jailed over journalist stabbing
Background

A separate case ends in prison sentences for stabbing an Iran International journalist outside his home in 2024.
July 2026
May 2025
Three men arrested in London
Legal

Officers arrest Sepahvand, Manesh and Noori at home addresses in St John's Wood, Kensal Rise and Ealing.
May 3rd, 2025
March 2025
Surveillance period ends
Investigation

Police later establish the reconnaissance ran from August 2024 to March 2025.
March 2025
August 2024
Surveillance operation begins
Investigation

Sepahvand and Manesh begin photographing targets' homes and workplaces, gathering car details and pets' names.
August 2024
2023
First of four Iran International cases
Background

Counter Terrorism Policing later describes a run of cases from late 2023 targeting the broadcaster's staff.
2023

Scenarios

Judge hands both men multi-year prison terms on December 17

Likely Resolves by Dec 17, 2026

Discussed by: Counter Terrorism Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service, both of which described the operation as serious and premeditated

Sepahvand was convicted on two counts, including preparing serious violence, and admitted the surveillance. Manesh was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service. The prosecution described Sepahvand's duress defence as 'entirely bogus', which if accepted by the judge removes the main mitigation argument. A custodial sentence for both is the expected outcome.

Manesh walks free or receives a short sentence

Possible Resolves by Dec 17, 2026

Discussed by: Defence arguments at trial, which cast Manesh as a helper who believed he was house-hunting and was cleared of the violence count

The jury acquitted Manesh of the section 18 charge of preparing surveillance with the intention that serious violence be committed by others. That acquittal gives his lawyers room to argue he was a marginal figure who did not know the operation's purpose. If the judge accepts that framing, his sentence could be substantially shorter than Sepahvand's.

Police announce further arrests in the Iran International case series

Uncertain Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Counter Terrorism Policing, which said the threat from hostile states is increasing and that Iran keeps adapting its use of proxies

Evans said Iran has shifted between flying people in for short trips, using British nationals, and using Iranian nationals with temporary leave to remain. She also said this is the fourth case involving direct threats to Iran International staff. That pattern makes further investigations likely, though police have announced no specific new operation.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

September 1992

Mykonos restaurant assassinations (1992)

Gunmen killed four Kurdish-Iranian dissidents at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. A German court later found that the order came from Iran's leadership, naming senior officials including the intelligence minister.

Then

The ruling triggered a diplomatic rupture, with European Union states recalling ambassadors from Tehran.

Now

It established a template for treating Iranian operations on European soil as state policy rather than isolated crime, and made Iranian exiles in Europe permanent security concerns.

Why this matters now

The London case follows the same logic: a European court attributing violence against Iranian critics to the Iranian state, with diplomatic and security consequences beyond the individual defendants.

July 2021

Plot against Masih Alinejad in New York (2021)

The US Justice Department charged an Iranian Revolutionary Guard member over an alleged plan to kidnap the Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad from her home in Brooklyn. A separate man was later prosecuted for surveilling her house.

Then

The charged Guard member remained outside the US, but the surveillance case produced a conviction and prison sentence.

Now

It showed that Iran's targeting of dissident journalists had moved to physical operations in Western cities, and that prosecutions could proceed even when the handlers stayed in Iran.

Why this matters now

The UK case has the same structure: handlers in Iran, recruited operatives on the ground, and a prosecution built on surveillance evidence rather than the capture of the people who gave the orders.

Late 2023 to July 2026

Earlier Iran International cases in Britain (2023-2026)

Counter Terrorism Policing says this conviction is the fourth recent case involving direct threats to Iran International journalists. In July 2026, two Romanian men were jailed for stabbing one of the broadcaster's journalists outside his home in 2024.

Then

Individual convictions followed, but the broadcaster's staff remained under police protection.

Now

The repeated cases pushed Iran International's security into a standing policing commitment rather than a one-off investigation.

Why this matters now

It explains why police describe this as a pattern rather than an isolated plot, and why the sentencing on December 17 will be read as a signal about how Britain handles the wider campaign.