Two Iranian Agents Convicted in UK for Espionage and Assassination Plot

A court in Woolwich, South London, convicted two Iranian nationals, Mostafa Sepehvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, on serious security offenses for aiding foreign intelligence. The pair, acting on behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, operated a spy and surveillance network targeting regime opponents and prominent activists in Britain. A third defendant was acquitted of all charges.

According to investigation materials revealed in the British media, the agents were recruited by their handlers in Iran via social media and served as operational contacts between August 2024 and February 2025. Their activities were halted in May 2025 when they were arrested in a raid by the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit. Evidence presented by the prosecution showed the two conducted intensive physical and digital surveillance on three key targets. Two of these targets were journalists working for the London-based opposition channel "Iran International," with the threat level so high that one journalist had to flee his home and hide in a hotel.

The third primary target was Jonathan Turner, a co-founder of "Lawyers for Israel in the UK," an organization that campaigns against boycotts and antisemitism in the legal sphere. Sepehvand, who had a prior theft conviction in Iran, was also convicted of surveillance with intent to commit grievous violence. Investigation materials indicated he communicated with his handlers, expressing explicit willingness to escalate surveillance to assassination, and demanded £150,000 for the target's elimination. Javadi Manesh was acquitted of this specific charge.

The sentencing for the convicted individuals is scheduled for December 17. All three entered the UK illegally within the last decade; Sepehvand infiltrated in 2016 hidden in a truck's cargo, while his associates arrived by small boat in 2022 and applied for asylum. Sepehvand, facing the most severe charges, even used AI technology to inquire about potential law enforcement surveillance, feeding questions into ChatGPT about whether his chats and WhatsApp messages could be monitored.

Following the verdict, Frank Ferguson, Chief Prosecutor of the Special Crimes and Counter-Terrorism Department, emphasized the gravity of the case, calling it a "calculated and thorough espionage operation against regime opponents." He noted the arrests prevented any attack from being carried out. These convictions align with a concerning report published by "The Telegraph" in July, detailing a systematic Iranian infiltration of agents into Britain, allegedly orchestrated by "Unit 700," a covert smuggling arm of the Quds Force, using refugees and migrants as cover.