The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Seyed Ali Mousav has been summoned to the Foreign Office after three Iranian nationals were charged with spying offences under the National Security Act.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were remanded in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
The three men were charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist the Iranian foreign intelligence service between August 2024 and February 2025.
Sepahvand faces an additional charge of engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research, intending to commit acts of serious violence against a person in the UK.
The Iranian Embassy in Knightsbridge, LondonPAManesh and Noori are further charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that acts of serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others. All three men appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court where they were remanded in custody.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: "Today, upon instruction from the Foreign Secretary, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Kingdom was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office."
The spokesman added that the ambassador was summoned in response to the charges under the National Security Act.
"The UK Government is clear that protecting national security remains our top priority and Iran must be held accountable for its actions," the spokesman said.
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The Iranians appeared in court last week
GettyIran has responded by summoning the British charge d'affaires in protest at what officials described as the "illegal and unjustified" detention of the country's nationals.
According to Iran's state-run news agency IRNA, Tehran claimed the detention was a violation of international law and politically motivated.
It follows the Foreign Office's statement that "three Iranian nationals had been charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service."
The three men all arrived in the UK by irregular means between 2016 and 2022, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard. Their methods of entry included small boats and a lorry. The trio will next appear for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on June 6.
The three men were arrested on May 3, alongside five other Iranian nationals who were detained in connection with a separate terrorism investigation.
The five other Iranian nationals were arrested in connection with a separate terrorism investigation into an alleged plot reportedly targeting the Israeli embassy.
Four of them were held on suspicion of the preparation of a terrorist act before being released from custody on Saturday.
The fifth, a 24-year-old man in the Manchester area, was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act before being bailed with conditions to an unspecified date in May.
