ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Kingdom summoned Iran’s ambassador to London on Monday, hours after Tehran summoned London’s chargé d’affaires in response to what it said was the “illegal” arrest of Iranian expatriates. The diplomatic exchange comes just days after three Iranians were reportedly charged with spying on journalists working for an outlet critical of the Iranian government.
A statement from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said that Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Seyed Ali Mousavi, was summoned “upon instruction from the Foreign Secretary,” following the charging of three Iranian nationals under the National Security Act for “engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service.”
The FCDO statement emphasized that “the UK Government is clear that protecting national security remains our top priority, and Iran must be held accountable for its actions.”
Earlier in the day, Iran’s state-run news agency (IRNA) reported that Tehran’s foreign ministry “summoned Britain’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran (in the absence of the ambassador) in response to the illegal arrest of some Iranian expatriates.”
In early May, British counter-terrorism police arrested eight Iranians - five “on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act” and three others as part of a separate “Counter Terrorism Policing investigation.”
IRNA further quoted Shahram Ghazizadeh, the director of the Third Department for Western Europe at Iran’s foreign ministry, as demanding “an explanation from the British government regarding the legal basis for the detention of the [Iranian] individuals.”
He censured the “unlawful detention of Iranian nationals, the lack of evidence for the accusations, the failure to notify the Iranian embassy in London, and the denial of consular access for those detained.”
“Such actions violate established international law and human rights standards,” Ghazizadeh said, adding that “the British government bears responsibility for the consequences of these actions, which appear to be politically motivated.”
The development comes as three of the Iranian individuals who were arrested in early May appeared in a London court on Saturday and were charged with spying for Iran.
British police said that 39-year-old Mostafa Sepahvand, 44-year-old Farhad Javadi Manesh, and 55-year-old Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori were accused of surveilling and intending to commit serious violent acts against journalists associated with the Iran International - a London-based outlet which is critical of the Iranian government and is blacklisted by Tehran.
This as four of the remaining five Iranians who were arrested in May had been released from custody, while the investigation is still ongoing. The fifth man was released on bail in May as well.
Following Saturday’s charges, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stated, “Iran must be held to account for its actions,” adding that “we must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security, as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil."
The UK has stepped up scrutiny of Iranian activities in recent months.
In March, the UK announced that it would require the Iranian state to register all activities aimed at exerting political influence within the UK.
London’s Security Minister Dan Jarvis in early May described the recent arrests as “some of the largest counter-state threats and counter-terrorism actions we have seen in recent times.”
Jarvis then emphasized the British government’s “response to the unacceptable threat we face from the Iranian state, and the steps we are taking to ensure that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to disrupt and degrade Iran’s malign activity on UK soil.”
Prior to that, in October, the director of the MI5 domestic security service, Ken McCallum, stated that at least 20 “potentially lethal” plots backed by Iran had been thwarted in the UK since 2022, most targeting dissident Iranians.
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