Two Iranians convicted in UK of spying for IRGC, plotting attacks

Two Iranian nationals were convicted in a British court on Thursday of conducting surveillance on journalists and a pro-Israel lawyer on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the BBC reported, with prosecutors revealing that one of the defendants was prepared to carry out a violent attack against his targets. Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty of "assisting a foreign intelligence service" following proceedings at Woolwich Crown Court.

A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of the same offense. According to prosecutors, the two convicted men were recruited to gather intelligence on individuals living in Britain who had attracted the attention of the Iranian regime. Among those targeted were Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, journalists working for the London-based Persian-language broadcaster Iran International , and Jonathan Turner, a founding member of UK Lawyers for Israel.

A media production professional was also subjected to surveillance. Investigators established that Sepahvand conducted reconnaissance and monitored several individuals in preparation for possible acts of violence, while Manesh assisted with planning. Sepahvand maintained contact with two individuals using Iranian telephone numbers and discussed the possibility of carrying out an attack in exchange for payment. In one communication, he requested £150,000 for "finishing off" a target and insisted that he would "do it".

Prosecutors also presented voice messages in which Sepahvand said his Iranian contacts had promised to have a previous theft conviction in Iran "sorted out". They argued that the promise was among the incentives motivating his involvement. Sepahvand claimed that he had participated in the operation because he feared the consequences of refusing to cooperate, an explanation prosecutors dismissed as "entirely bogus". The investigation uncovered extensive evidence of the surveillance operation, including 534 gigabytes of digital material seized by police.

The data revealed that Sepahvand and Manesh had received detailed documents containing photographs of their intended targets, workplace addresses, descriptions of their vehicles, including makes and colors, and even the names of their pets. The defendants subsequently used ChatGPT to conduct additional research on the individuals they were monitoring. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for Counter-Terrorism Policing, said the proceedings marked the first time ChatGPT search history had been introduced as evidence in a British state-threat prosecution.

"It's something we're beginning to see more of as AI tools become more widely available and people become more aware of them," Evans said. Both convicted men lived in west London and had been granted temporary permission to remain in Britain after seeking asylum, according to the BBC . Sepahvand entered the country concealed in a truck in 2016, while Manesh arrived by small boat in 2019. Frank Ferguson, a senior official in the Crown Prosecution Service's counterterrorism division, said the defendants had been offered rewards for providing intelligence to their contacts in Iran.

"Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets," Ferguson said. "Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place. Cases like this show Iranian intelligence's willingness to use proxies to target the regime's critics abroad." Sepahvand and Manesh are scheduled to be sentenced at London's Old Bailey on December 17.