British authorities have charged three Iranian nationals with "engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service" in connection with what prosecutors described as a plan to "commit serious violence against a person in the United Kingdom."
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were charged over "surveillance, reconnaissance, and open-source research" they conducted between August 2024 and February 2025, Frank Ferguson, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said in a statement on May 17.
The three men, all London residents, were arrested on May 3. The statement's description of additional charges suggested that Sepahvand is suspected of intending to attack the prospective victim, who was not identified, while Manesh and Khani are suspected as accomplices.
Police said the men were arrested under a section of Britain's 2023 National Security Act that grants police the power to arrest someone without a warrant if they are reasonably suspected of being involved in "foreign power threat activity," the BBC reported.
It cited police as saying the foreign intelligence service in question was Iran's.
The head of Britain's domestic spy service said last year that since 2022, authorities had responded to 20 Iran-linked plots that potentially posed lethal threats to the public.
