Two men in Britain have been charged with conducting surveillance for Iran on people and places linked to London’s Jewish community.
The men, one Iranian and the other a dual citizen of Britain and Iran, are accused of “engaging in contact that is likely to assist a foreign intelligence service” between July 9 and Aug. 15 last year, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement, adding, “The country to which the investigation relates is Iran.”
The men were formally charged on Wednesday under Britain’s National Security Act, which was passed in 2023 with the intention of dealing with state-backed threats and espionage, predominantly emanating from Russia, Iran and China.
The prosecutions are the latest of several related to hostile Iran-backed activity in Britain, although previous plots have mainly involved threats against dissident journalists working for Persian-language media outlets.
In his most recent annual security update, Ken McCallum, the director general of Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency, said it had tracked more than 20 “potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” between October 2024 and October 2025.
The two men charged on Wednesday were detained on March 6 “as part of an investigation into alleged surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, a dual Iranian and British citizen, and Alireza Farasati, 22, an Iranian, are to appear in court on Thursday. Two other men who were arrested as part of the investigation were later released without charge.
Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator of U.K. counterterrorism policing, said, “We fully recognize that the public — and in particular the Jewish community — will be concerned but I hope this investigation reassures them that we will not hesitate to take action if we identify there may be a threat to their safety, and will be relentless in our pursuit of those who may be responsible.”
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, which authorized the charges, said in a statement that the men were accused of “gathering information and undertaking reconnaissance of targets” when they “knew or ought to have reasonably known that their conduct was likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service.”
The defense secretary, John Healey, said earlier this month that Britain’s terror threat level would be reviewed in light of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and ensuing regional counterattacks. There has so far been no change to the rating, which stands at “substantial” — meaning an attack is likely.
Last fall people marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, were attacked at a synagogue in the city of Manchester, in northern England. The perpetrator, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, was shot dead by the police, and two victims died during the episode on Oct. 2.
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