Moment police arrest two Iranian spies who were hired over social media to attack journalists in the UK critical of the regime and Israel-supporting lawyer

A second-hand car salesman and an associate have been found guilty of spying for Iran after they were hired to track down and attack a lawyer and journalists opposed to the regime. The trial exposed a haphazard operation in which Iranian agents offered money and inducements to so-called 'proxies' in order to target their enemies in the UK but never found their targets.It is the third time in three years that individuals have been recruited by Iran to target journalists but the first to involve Iranian asylum seekers.Previous investigations have involved criminals recruited from Chechnya and Romania to fly into the country, including one group who stabbed a journalist in a street in Wimbledon, south-west London.Iran has also recruited British-born proxies to launch arson attacks against Jewish targets in April and was accused of being behind a security scare at RAF Fairford in September.Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, a former gym owner and body builder with a criminal past, was hired to act as a hitman, to perpetrate 'serious violence' in return for a payment of £150,000.He had arrived illegally in the back of a lorry in 2016 and was assisted by two other Iranians - Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, from Kensal Rise, and Shapoor Noori, 57, from Ealing - who had arrived in the UK by small boat and claimed asylum in 2022.Sepahvand was sent instructions by two intelligence officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) but only received £5,000 and was arrested on May 3 last year before he located any of the people he was supposed to attack. Bodyworn footage from Counter Terrorism Policing London of Farhad Javadi Manesh's arrest Manesh was guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act The arrest of Mostafa Sepahvand, a former gym owner and body builder with a criminal past Sepahvand was hired to act as a hitman, to perpetrate 'serious violence' in return for £150,000In messages, to a friend in Iran, Sepahvand complained that he was being sent information from Instagram and Google and treated like an 'errand boy', calling his Iranian handlers a 'bunch of idiots' who had watched 'too many crime films.'As he was arrested and pinned to the floor, Sepahvand could be heard screaming: 'Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? I'm Mostafa. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?'Bill Emlyn Jones KC, prosecuting, told Woolwich Crown Court that the men's 'ultimate objective was that one, or perhaps more than one, of their targets would be subjected to serious violence, no doubt as retribution for their criticism of the Iranian regime'. TARGETS: How the men used a 'targeting pack' to find journalists Mostafa Sepahvand was sent a 'targeting pack' for Mojtaba Pour Mohsen, a journalist who worked for Iran International.This included photographs of the headquarters of Iran International and the nearby Clayton Hotel, where staff were said to hold meetings.On August 14 2024, he was also sent the 'aerial location of the subject's work address and possible aerial location of the subject's apartment', showing the barristers' chambers in Lincoln's Inn and an address in Chancery Lane they thought was for Jonathan Turner, one of the founders of UK Lawyers for Israel.On the afternoon of December 10 at 2pm, Sepahvand sent aerial images to Farhad Javadi Manesh of Malthouse Court in Brentford, the address for Mohsen, and the pair then met up and went to the area.On December 12, 2024, Manesh shared a video clip with Sepahvand filmed as they drove slowly past a house in St Dunstan's Avenue in Acton where Kambiz Hosseini, a dissident Iranian journalist and satirist, was staying with his brother.Hosseini had received a series of threatening messages, including one that read: 'Iran became triumphant which hurts you. Trump is barking like a dog and you will be executed soon too.'Another said: 'You b***ard, be prepared to see what the IRGC will do to you' - referring to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps - and a third: 'Do you want me to get the FSB to kill you?' - a reference to the Russian Federal Security Service, a strategic partner for Iran.One message read: 'If you ever bring Imam Khamenei's [the Iranian Supreme Leader] name into your dirty mind again, I'm watching over you.'I'll do something to you that you even forget your own name. Don't look for anything in my page. When the time comes, you'll know who I am.'However, Sepahvand complained that he was getting given information taken from Instagram and they could not find their target.On December 24, Sepahvand sent a screenshot of a message to Manesh which read: 'St Dunstan's Gardens, St Dunstan's Ave, his dog's name is Niko. His vehicle is Volkswagen, blue in colour.'Manesh complained 'what stupid game they are playing?' and asked why they had not sent the car's registration number.Sepahvand then sent a link to his Instagram page, adding: 'You will see both the dog and the car.'On March 19 Sephavand and Noori were both at Canbury Business Park, in Kingston-upon-Thames but only found Whelan's pub on Canbury Park Road because they had been sent the name 'Fiser Ltd' instead of a media company called 'Need A Fixer Ltd'. IRGC agents in Iran called Haji and Amin offered Sepahvand money and clemency in return for locating a barrister who founded UK Lawyers for Israel and two journalists who worked for Iran International, a London-based TV station which has been repeatedly targeted for broadcasting material opposing the regime.Sepahvand used AI to check if he could be under surveillance, typing: 'I am now in England is it possible for them to check both Chat GPT and WhatsApp?'I'm an ordinary guy, does that mean it's possible they are checking me now? If someone wants to monitor WhatsApp what do they have to do, the police for example?'Sepahvand also used the AI application to look up Mojtaba Pour Mohsen, a journalist who worked for Iran International.The app provided Instagram, Twitter and Telegram handles but told him: 'Unfortunately I cannot search for people's private information, including addresses and personal communications.'Sepahvand, an Iranian national and former criminal living in Paddington, had arrived in the UK in 2016 and was granted asylum on appeal when he converted to Christianity.In court he showed off a series of scars and talked of a fight outside his gym in Khorramabad in western Iran, organising an attack on an opponent inside a jail and firebombing a house.He had fled Iran following a series of 32 robberies, including one in which a safe and valuables were stolen, and was jailed for four and a half years and sentenced to 70 lashes in his absence.Sepahvand told Woolwich Crown Court that his presence in the UK was exposed when he appeared in an Instagram video for a dental clinic and he was then threatened by a man called Ebi from Wolverhampton who worked for the IRGC and was 'very active on TikTok.'He was also in contact with a man called Naveed in the Iranian embassy, sending him details of cars he was selling, including an Audi Q8 and a Mercedes GLE 450, although he was ostensibly unemployed.Sepahvand claimed he had been targeted by the regime after falling out with a senior cleric and was acting under duress.He told his trial he had been 'playing' his handlers, telling the jury: 'You have no idea what I have done with the IRGC. I took a risk. I risked my life and my family members' lives to play them.'At one point he had to be restrained by three security guards after he launched himself from the witness box, pointing and shouting at prosecutor Mr Jones.Sephavand and Manesh were both found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act and will be sentenced next month.Noori was acquitted of the same charge after telling the jury he thought he was just 'out for a spin' with his friend.Sepahvand was also found guilty of preparing to commit serious violence against a person in the UK.Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing said the case was 'particularly important' as the first example of counter-terrorism policing using the National Security Act to prosecute Iranian nationals in the UK accused of spying on behalf of the IRGC.'It's clear the threat from Iran is increasing, and they continue to adapt their approach,' she said. A court artist's sketch of Manesh appearing via videolink at the Old Bailey in March Malthouse Court in Brentford, the former address of one of the targets of surveillance A court artist's sketch of Sepahvand appearing via videolink at the Old Bailey in March'In this case, we see them moving from using foreign proxies, who fly in and out of the country to carry out the criminal acts, to Iranian nationals with settled immigration status.'We've also seen British nationals used for this type of work and it is a really concerning pattern.'The threats we face from Iran are very real. I hope that this case and subsequent convictions, and sentences send a very stark message to anyone being asked to carry out activity on behalf of Iran or any other foreign state, or even unknown entities online.'Think again, the consequences are significant, we will look to investigate and prosecute you, and you will face justice.'The threat has 'gone up exponentially over recent years' and there was a 'broadening of the types of physical threats and sabotage we're seeing in the UK,' Ms Evans said.'We are seeing a desire to project threats into different communities in the UK, sometimes to media outlets and more broadly to Jewish communities becoming a target,' she added.There were 'varied levels of capability in the individuals that are tasked' and some are 'just on the periphery of criminality who want quick and easy money.'She warned: 'They can be promised large amounts of money, as seen in this case. However, to be clear, the proxies, the people being tasked and asked to do this work are the ones taking on all the risk.'They will often only receive a fraction, if any, of the financial rewards promised and those doing the tasking do their best to stay two, three, four steps removed from the people who are asked to do this activity.' COMPLAINTS: 'We have ended up dealing with a bunch of idiots' On January 7, Mostafa Sepahvand's sentence in Iran was reduced to three years and nine months and 74 lashes discretionary punishment.However the Iranian agents complained that Sepahvand had not done the work.He messaged his friend Mostafa Ghorbani in Iran: 'Brother it was supposed to be one address but I went to three addresses. It was supposed to be one week but I went three weeks.'The two Iranian intelligence contacts, Haji and Amin, turned up at Ghorbani's home and 'all they would talk about was that issue - who pocketed the money for who?'Sepahvand told him: 'I swear on my mother's life, if they put him in my hands, I'll finish hm off but he is not there.'They gave me £3,900 bro. Which fool would do this kind of job with that money? Brother by god, if I had stabbed this guy, by god, they wouldn't have given me any money. They are liars.'Sepahvand sent a voicenote to Ghorbani on February 24 last year, in which he told him: 'We have ended up dealing with a bunch of idiots. They send photos based on nothing and ask me, "find him" but I don't know how I'm supposed to find him.'He added: 'All of these addresses are useless. It doesn't matter to me, I get my pay. I'll go anywhere they say, I don't have a problem, however they want and any time. What else can I say?'If they want, I'll record a video. If they want, I'll send them photos. So they don't say tomorrow, he didn't do it. They themselves know it's nonsense but they won't admit it.'In a second voicenote, he added: 'The way Amin talks, you would think he is in London. It's exactly this attitude that gets on my nerves. He says, 100 per cent he is there.'Brother I swear, they didn't go any further than Dargah but they make it look as though they know every street and back alley around here.'They are talking f**king bullshit. They sit there watching too many crime films. They sit behind a computer with a few Google searches.'On February 26, Sepahvand complained to Ghorbani that he had not received his pardon: 'Brother, I haven't received a ruling from these people. I need to see something with my own eyes. Right now, I'm going around dealing with their business.'Wherever you say, I'm at your service to do it as well. I'll tell my people to do it. I swear on the Koran, on my father's soul, let's see him and pay him a visit. I'd love nothing more than to see him.'Two days later, on February 28, Sepahvand was told by Ghorbani that he was with Haji and Amin and his case had been 'closed for another four months and you won't have a jail sentence either.'Ghorbani promised him: 'When the job is done, the case is over, they'll get you a house too and when you arrive at the airport, they themselves will pick you up from the gate. They also said they would pay the fine themselves.'However he added: 'You'll have to find him at your own expense.'On March 20, Sepahvand sent a long voicenote to Ghorbani again complaining about Amin, his intelligence contact.'Go and tell Amin, you are still a kid, I've been all around this world, [don't] try to fool me.'He said he had been told a house had been subject to 'non-physical surveillance' but 'you use GPS to pull up photographs and then you think you are dealing with a f**king idiot.'He worried that he might get caught, adding: 'I've told you a hundred times that these addresses are wrong.'Apart from that, it seems these people don't even know what the offence is for doing something like this. They're deliberately turning a blind eye to it. If they catch me here, then that's it. I'll have to say goodbye.'Sepahvand complained: 'They made me a promise and said, 'We'll sort out your court case, and we'll give you £150,000 as well, finish the job, we'll show you the target.' They didn't give me any of that either,' Sepahvand said.'I'm not their errand boy for them to keep sending me addresses. For god's sake, when someone is going to do a job, they pay him first. I'm not going there to work as a labourer.'This job is about committing an offence. Considering what an offence it is, I'm supposed to put up my own money, put my own life at risk, put my car into it, put my time into it, leave my wife, leave my home, go chasing after their business, and in the end get completely f**ked because of them.'He complained that the two Iranian contacts - Haji and Amin - were 'sitting there smoking their shisha while I go chasing after their empty, dodgy addresses, their bogus, empty, two-bit addresses.'Sephavand demanded: 'From this moment on, tell them to send the money. Not £1,000, not £5,000, not £6,000. At the absolute minimum, they transfer £10,000. OK?'They've ruined my reputation with my friends, too. My friends think I've received £30,000 or £40,000. They have absolutely no idea that I'm proceeding with it out of friendship.'He said he had been sent 'address after address after address' and they were asking him to do 'something that constitutes a criminal offence, and it carries a heavy prison sentence.'If he received the money he would 'go there and stand there, if the target is inside, they pay the £150,000, and I'll finish him off. Whenever they have the money ready and have transferred it, I'll do their job.'Sepahvand said 'the problem is that we have a f**king big heart' but 'even friendship has its limits.''These people transfer trillions and trillions to Syria and wherever else, here, there and everywhere but when it comes to something concerning their business, they won't pay for it. This isn't right anymore. This is taking advantage of me,' Sepahvand added.On April 25, he messaged again: 'If my court ruling comes through, if my acquittal ruling comes through, I'm at their service.'I've done so much work for them, I'll do the rest as well, OK? I'll go and pursue their business. I would love nothing more than to see him. I swear on my father's soul, by the Prophet, I would love nothing more than to see him. If my ruling comes through, of course, I'll do it.'