Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the UK chargé d'affaires in Tehran in protest over what it called the "unlawful and baseless" arrest of several Iranian nationals in the United Kingdom in two separate anti-terror operations.
In the absence of the British ambassador, the UK diplomat was summoned by Shahram Ghazizadeh, director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Western Europe Department, who conveyed Tehran's strong objections to both the arrests and what he described as unfounded accusations against the Islamic Republic.
Ghazizadeh demanded explanations from the UK government regarding the legal grounds for detaining the individuals, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
In two separate operations on May 3, eight men including seven Iranians were arrested by the British counter-terrorism police.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry official accused London of deliberately failing to notify the Iranian embassy in a timely manner and condemned what he described as Britain's refusal to provide evidence and its denial of consular access.
The Iranian official also warned that Britain would be held responsible for the consequences of actions that appeared politically motivated and aimed at pressuring Iran.
The UK police charged three of the Iranian detainees with offences under the National Security Act, alleging they acted on behalf of Iran’s intelligence service and carried out surveillance targeting Iran International journalists.
The men — Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 56 — were arrested at their homes in London on May 3 and charged on Friday.
All three are accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between August 14, 2024 and February 16, 2025, in breach of Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023. The foreign state involved is Iran, police said.
The five other detainees who had been arrested as part of a "pre-planned" investigation into a suspected plot to "attack a specific location" were later released from custody.
The five men included four Iranians arrested in different parts of the UK under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of preparing a terror attack. The men, aged between 29 and 46, were arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport, and Rochdale.
The fifth man, aged 24 and arrested in Manchester under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, had previously been released on bail with conditions, pending a court date in May.
