Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the United Kingdom’s charge d’affaires over what it called “suspicious and unwarranted” arrests of several Iranian nationals.
The UK earlier this month accused several Iranian nationals of offences without offering evidence, wilfully refrained from informing Iran’s embassy in time, and prevented consular access contrary to international norms, the ministry said in a statement.
It also accused the British government of harbouring “political motivations to exert pressure on Iran” with the arrests.
The diplomatic spat comes two days after British police charged three Iranians with suspected espionage for Iran’s intelligence services under the country’s National Security Act of 2023.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were accused of conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between August 14, 2024, and February 16, 2025.
They appeared before a Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, where they were also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance to commit or support serious violence against a person in the UK.
Their cases were referred to a central criminal court, and the next hearing is scheduled for early June.
The three are among eight individuals arrested in May, including seven Iranians, as part of two separate operations which Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said were some of the biggest investigations of their kind in recent years.
The four other Iranians were arrested as part of a “counterterrorism” operation, with investigations ongoing. The eighth man was released without charge last week.
