LONDON - Two Iranian men were convicted on Thursday, November 12, of spying for Iran after an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) London, the Metropolitan Police said. Mostafa Sepahvand and Farhad Manesh were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of engaging in conduct likely to assist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), after a six-week trial.

Source: Metropolitan Police, Nov 12, 2026

Both men were convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. Sepahvand was also found guilty under section 18 of preparatory conduct - surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research - intending to commit serious violence against a person in the UK. Manesh was found not guilty of the section 18 charge.

Source: Crown Prosecution Service, Nov 12, 2026

Counter-terrorism police said it was the first time Iranian nationals had been convicted under the National Security Act, PA Media reported. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, of Ealing, was acquitted of all offences against him, both the Met and the CPS confirmed. Jurors deliberated for 19 hours and nine minutes, PA reported.

Source: Glasgow Times / PA Media, Nov 12, 2026

Who was watched, and how

The targets of the surveillance were two journalists working for Iran International, a lawyer working for UK Lawyers for Israel and a media production professional, the Met said. Reporting of the trial named the journalists as Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini and the lawyer as Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel. The surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research took place between August 2024 and March 2025.

Source: Metropolitan Police, Nov 12, 2026

Officers uncovered briefing documents on the men's mobile phones that included pictures of the targets, the addresses of where they worked, the make and colour of the car they drove and even the names of their pets, the Met said. Investigators sifted through 534 GB of data, translating thousands of messages and audio from Farsi into English, and used mobile-phone cell-site data to build a record of the surveillance.

Source: Metropolitan Police, Nov 12, 2026

Sepahvand took a leading role, passing surveillance instructions to Manesh and frequently messaging Iranian phone numbers of individuals linked to the IRGC, the Met said. In messages about one target he referenced 'finishing him off'. He was partly motivated, police said, by the promise of £150,000 (yaani 1.5 lakh pounds) from his IRGC contacts, and he also expected the IRGC to 'fix' his conviction in Iran for theft. The CPS said a message from Sepahvand to his contact in Iran asked for £150,000 to 'finish [the target] off' once they had been found, and that the men had been promised tens of thousands of pounds in pay.

Source: Crown Prosecution Service, Nov 12, 2026

What the defendants said, and the arrests

Sepahvand, Manesh and Noori were all arrested at their home addresses on May 3, 2025, the Met said. Sepahvand admitted he had carried out the surveillance on behalf of the IRGC but claimed it had been done under duress - a claim the jury rejected in convicting him of both counts. The CPS said prosecutors had to prove his actions were intentional and that he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, the reconnaissance was likely to be useful to foreign spies planning hostile activity in the UK.

Source: Metropolitan Police, Nov 12, 2026

Police and prosecutors: a proxy pattern aimed at Persian-language media

"It is clear the arrests of these two men by Counter Terrorism Policing officers prevented serious violence from being inflicted on one or more individuals in the UK," said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing. "The activity laid out in this case reflects a pattern of Iran targeting Persian language media in the UK, particularly Iran International. Indeed, this is the fourth case in recent years involving direct threat to Iran International journalists and we are working hard to keep them safe."

Source: Metropolitan Police, Nov 12, 2026

Evans said the threat from hostile states to the UK is increasing and Iran continues to adapt its approach to using 'proxies' - people tasked via social media with the promise of large amounts of money, who take on all the risk and often receive only a fraction, if any, of the promised reward. Frank Ferguson, Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: "This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime. Cases like this show Iranian intelligence's willingness to use proxies to target the regime's critics abroad. Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place."

Source: Crown Prosecution Service, Nov 12, 2026

What happens next

Sepahvand, 41, of St John's Wood, and Manesh, 46, of Kensal Rise, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey - the Central Criminal Court - on December 17, 2026. No sentence was announced on Thursday. The verdict lands while Britain and its G7 partners are pressing Iran over attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and over its support for armed groups in the Middle East; this case is a separate, domestic-security front in the same wider confrontation, centred on the safety of journalists and critics of Tehran living in London.

Source: Metropolitan Police, Nov 12, 2026