Two Iranian men were convicted in Britain on Thursday of conducting surveillance on journalists and other critics of Tehran. The case has added to concerns about Iranian activities abroad, as France accuses the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of a major cyberattack and a senior UAE official warns of Iranian-linked sleeper cells.
The developments come as the Trump administration maintains economic pressure on Iran while leaving open the possibility of negotiations. That has raised questions about whether alleged covert operations overseas could figure in any future agreement.
A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, guilty of conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service. Prosecutors said the men monitored journalists and others critical of Iran’s government.
The people targeted included journalists at Iran International, a London-based Persian-language news outlet critical of Tehran, and a prominent figure associated with UK Lawyers for Israel. Prosecutors said the surveillance took place from August 2024 to March 2025 and involved visits to locations connected to the targets, photography, video recording and online research.
Sepahvand was also convicted of preparatory conduct intended to facilitate serious violence against someone in Britain. Manesh was cleared of that charge, and a third defendant was acquitted of all charges.
British authorities said these were the first convictions of Iranian nationals under the 2023 National Security Act. They described the case as evidence of an ongoing threat from Iranian intelligence activity. Tehran has denied involvement.
Similar concerns have surfaced in the United States. Two days before the British verdict, the U.S. Justice Department announced terrorism charges against three alleged Iranian-backed operatives accused of involvement in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States.
According to an indictment issued Nov. 10, the men allegedly supported Iran’s IRGC and Kata’ib Hezbollah, targeting Jewish communities and plotting an attack on RAF Fairford, a British air base that houses American military personnel. Prosecutors also allege that one defendant, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, continued coordinating terrorist activity through coded messages while jailed in New York. The network was also accused of planning an attack on a Manhattan synagogue.
In France, authorities on Monday accused the IRGC of directing a large cyberattack against food-supply infrastructure. A report by the country’s Cyber Crisis Coordination Centre said Iranian-linked hackers targeted refrigeration controls at about 700 retail sites on Oct. 11 and 12.
Investigators said the attackers changed defrost settings remotely, pushing refrigeration equipment to unusually high temperatures. Large quantities of food were spoiled, and at least 15 fires were reported.
The affected businesses included major supermarket chains Carrefour, Leclerc and Intermarché, along with other companies in the food sector. French investigators attributed the operation to Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit under the IRGC’s electronic and cyber command.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the attack unprecedented in scale and aggression. French authorities said they would seek European sanctions against those responsible. Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations as baseless and malicious, condemning what it called a persistent practice of directing allegations at Tehran.
Officials in the Gulf have also warned that Iran’s regional activity extends beyond missiles, drones and armed proxy groups. Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, who chairs the UAE Federal National Council’s Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee, said Iranian-linked sleeper cells were active in the region and elsewhere.
“They created these sleeping cells in the region and also in other places,” Al Nuaimi said, adding that UAE authorities had identified cells and taken action under the country’s laws.
At an Oct. 15 briefing, Al Nuaimi said hundreds of suspected Iranian sleeper-cell members had been arrested in the UAE. He alleged that some had helped direct Iranian missile and drone attacks against the country.
In a separate interview, Al Nuaimi said negotiations with Tehran should cover its nuclear program and regional proxies, as well as covert networks operating abroad. “You have to stop not only the proxies that we know, but also using these sleeping cells in other countries,” he said.
Iranian-American journalist and foreign policy analyst Lisa Daftari has also described what she says is the personal impact of Iranian intelligence activity in the United States. She previously said she had been followed in Los Angeles and New York, hacked repeatedly and approached in person. Daftari said the FBI told her she was on a list of potential targets of the Iranian regime after hackers accessed her accounts. “The message they want to send is very clear, that we know where you are, we can reach you,” she said.
In a joint statement issued Wednesday after a meeting in Paris, G7 foreign ministers expressed serious concern about Iranian involvement in violent plots targeting people and territory in their countries.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters after the meeting on Tuesday, blamed Iran for much of the instability in the Middle East, citing its support for armed groups including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.
Rubio said the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign was weakening Iran’s government and limiting its ability to fund activities abroad, including terrorism and cyber operations. He said Washington remained willing to pursue diplomacy, but would not accept what he called unrealistic Iranian demands.
The G7 statement also committed member countries to coordinating economic and political measures intended to limit Tehran’s ability to destabilize countries inside and beyond the Middle East.
The British convictions, the French cyberattack findings and the UAE allegations concern different kinds of activity. No evidence has been presented showing that they were part of one coordinated operation.
Still, taken together, the cases reflect the range of threats Western and Gulf officials associate with Iran, from surveillance of dissidents and alleged sleeper networks to attacks on civilian infrastructure. They are unfolding as diplomats seek to avoid another military escalation.
