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London's Metropolitan Police arrested two people this week on suspicion of assisting Iranian intelligence, widening Britain's long-running confrontation with Tehran's activity on UK soil. Counter Terrorism Policing London said officers arrested a 42-year-old woman in north London and a 60-year-old man in north-west London on Wednesday, 9 September. Both were held under section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, which covers assisting a foreign intelligence service, and police said the case is linked to Iran.
The arrests followed two searches carried out on 24 June at addresses in north and north-west London. Officers searched a third property in north-west London on 9 September, after taking the pair into custody. Both suspects were released on bail with strict conditions until a date in late October, and the investigation is continuing.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said there was no imminent threat to the public. She pointed to a "marked increase in the tempo" of national security and state-threat work over the past year. Flanagan also reminded the public that the UK terrorism threat level remains at severe. The force stressed the case is not linked to earlier attacks this year on Jewish and Iranian community sites across London, nor to the coming Jewish High Holy Days.
The arrests fit a wider pattern of alleged Iranian operations in Britain. Two Iranian nationals, Nematollah Shahsavani and Alireza Farasati, are due to stand trial next year, accused of spying on the Israeli embassy and Jewish targets in London after their arrest in March. The government has designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a threat to the British state under national security powers. The National Security Act, introduced in 2023, gave police broader tools to disrupt suspected hostile-state activity before it escalates.
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