Two Iranian men were found guilty on Thursday of spying on dissident journalists in Britain on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a case British police said reflected increasing activity by Iran.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, was found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of two offenses and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, was convicted of one offense under Britain's National Security Act.
Sepahvand was also convicted of planning a violent attack on one or more of their targets.
Police said the convictions marked the first time Iranian nationals had been convicted under the National Security Act, introduced in 2023 to counter threats from foreign states including Iran, which the authorities say have risen sharply.
Sepahvand was directed by the IRGC or "middlemen" for Iranian intelligence, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing Vicki Evans said, adding the case "highlights the continuing and increasing threat to the UK from Iran."
Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in spying or any such activity, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was "disturbed" by the arrests of Sepahvand and others in May 2025.
Iran's embassy in London said it "categorically rejects" prosecutors' contention that the Iranian state was involved, adding that the "use of security-related allegations and judicial proceedings to advance political agendas against Iran (is) unacceptable."
IRGC-linked alleged spies carry out surveillance on anti-regime London-based outlet
Prosecutors said at the start of Sepahvand and Manesh's trial last month that they had been carrying out surveillance on journalists working for Iran International, a Persian-language television station, headquartered in London, which is critical of Iran's government, between August 2024 and March 2025.
Sepahvand was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service and a second charge relating to what prosecutors said was a plan for Sepahvand to attack one or more of their targets.
Manesh was convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service, but acquitted of the second charge relating to preparing for an attack. They will both be sentenced next month.
A third man, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of both charges.
The trial was the fourth case in Britain relating to Iran International since late 2023, with two Romanian men jailed in July for stabbing a journalist outside his home in 2024.
A spokesperson for Iran International's parent company Volant Media said in a statement that Thursday's verdicts "don't make the lives of our journalists any safer so long as the Islamic Republic of Iran continues its campaign of death threats and violence against them."