Europe

Two Iranians convicted in London of spying on Tehran's critics, first convictions under Britain's National Security Act

US indictment alleges wider network kept plotting from a New York prison cell

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Iranian-American analyst says Tehran’s intimidation campaign has followed her onto US soil Iranian-American analyst says Tehran’s intimidation campaign has followed her onto US soil foxnews.com
Iran military Tehran Iran military Tehran foxnews.com
Mohammad Ali Al-Hassani and Mohsen Mohajeri meeting in Iraq with a map of London on a laptop Mohammad Ali Al-Hassani and Mohsen Mohajeri meeting in Iraq with a map of London on a laptop foxnews.com
A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. Some 150 to 200 Intermarché stores were targeted in the attack on October 12, 2026, along with nearly 100 Coopérative U outlets, the retailers said. BFM TV reported that rival giant E. Leclerc was also affected, with hackers A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. Some 150 to 200 Intermarché stores were targeted in the attack on October 12, 2026, along with nearly 100 Coopérative U outlets, the retailers said. BFM TV reported that rival giant E. Leclerc was also affected, with hackers foxnews.com
Iran-backed terror suspect Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi pictured with weapons and a US map Iran-backed terror suspect Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi pictured with weapons and a US map foxnews.com

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London convicted two Iranian men on Thursday of spying on journalists and critics of the Tehran government. Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were found guilty of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service; a third defendant was cleared of all charges. Prosecutors said the surveillance targeted journalists at Iran International, a London-based Persian-language outlet critical of Tehran, and a prominent figure associated with UK Lawyers for Israel.

The operation ran from August 2024 to March 2025 and consisted of visits to locations associated with the targets, photographs, videos and online research. Sepahvand was additionally convicted of preparatory conduct intended to lead to serious violence against a person in Britain; the jury acquitted Manesh on that count. British authorities described the verdicts as the first convictions of Iranian nationals under the National Security Act of 2023. Iran has denied involvement.

The London case is one entry in a larger ledger. The US Justice Department has announced terrorism charges against three alleged operatives tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata'ib Hezbollah, accusing them of involvement in nearly twenty attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States. The alleged targets included Jewish communities, a Manhattan synagogue and RAF Fairford, a British air base housing American military personnel. France's Cyber Crisis Coordination Centre, in a report published November 9, attributed to Iranian-linked hackers an October attack that altered defrost settings on refrigeration controllers at roughly 700 retail locations, leaving equipment at abnormally high temperatures and food spoiled.

Read together, the cases sketch a network that is visible mainly in its outcomes. The London surveillance ran for seven months before charges were brought. The refrigeration attack succeeded at hundreds of stores before it was attributed. And according to the November 10 indictment, one defendant — Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi — continued coordinating terrorist activities through coded messages while imprisoned in New York.