Two Iranians appeared in court in London on Thursday accused of spying on the Jewish community in London on behalf of Tehran including allegedly carrying out reconnaissance of potential targets such as a synagogue.
UK police, the domestic intelligence service MI5 and members of parliament have long warned about a growing threat from Iran, which is currently locked in a war with the United States and Israel.
Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, a dual Iranian and British national, and Alireza Farasati, 22, an Iranian national, are charged with engaging in contact likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between July 9 and August 15 last year.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which brings public prosecutions in England and Wales, said Iran was the country the charges related to.
Both men, who have been in custody since being arrested on March 6, appeared before London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged under the the National Security Act 2023.
Prosecutor Louise Attrill told the court the pair were “suspected of assisting the Iranian intelligence service by conducting hostile surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Israeli and Jewish community”.
Shahsavani, a delivery driver, is alleged to have identified “targets” for surveillance in London including the Israeli embassy and consulate, a Jewish community centre and the Bevis Marks Synagogue, Britain’s oldest.
Both men spoke only to confirm their identities and no pleas were formally entered.
They were remanded in custody and are scheduled to appear at London’s Old Bailey criminal court on April 17.
Two other men arrested along with them in early March have since been released without charges.
In October 2025, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said that British security agencies had tracked “more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” in the previous year.
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