2 Iranians Conducted Hostile Surveillance of Israeli Embassy, Synagogues, UK Court Told

Two men accused of spying for Iran carried out hostile surveillance on targets in Britain’s Jewish community, as well as the Israeli embassy in London, a court was told on March 19.

Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and Alireza Farasati, 22, have been charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between July 9, 2025 and Aug. 15, 2025.

Prosecutor Louise Attrill told Westminster Magistrates Court, “The two defendants are suspected of assisting the Iranian intelligence service by conducting hostile surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Israeli and Jewish community.”

She said Shahsavani identified targets for surveillance, including the Israeli embassy and consulate in London, and the Bevis Marks Synagogue in central London, which is Britain’s oldest, dating back to 1710.

Attrill told the hearing that other targets were the JW3 community center in north London, and a woman who has been accused of being a Mossad agent.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced on March 18 it had charged Shahsavani and Farasati under the National Security Act 2023 and they made their first appearance in court on March 19.

Attrill said other places targeted were the Sternberg Centre for Judaism, Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity that offers protection against anti-Semitic attacks, schools, another synagogue, a museum in Finchley, north London, and a private home in Colchester, east of London.

She said Shahsavani, a delivery driver, had given Farasati the task of conducting “surveillance activity against Israeli and Jewish sites and possible targets linked to the Iranian intelligence service.”

No Pleas Entered

Neither man was given the opportunity to offer a plea to the charges, and Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring remanded the pair in custody pending a hearing at the Old Bailey on April 17.

They are likely to face trial later this year, or possibly in 2027.

Shahsavani is a dual Iranian and British national, while Farasati is an Iranian national.

Iran has in the past been accused of orchestrating anti-Semitic attacks, including helping Hezbollah terrorists bomb the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 85 people and injuring around 300.

In August 2025, Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador, after accusing Tehran of being behind two anti-Semitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

“MI5 has tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots,” Ken McCallum, head of Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service, said in October.

“The UK was among the first to call out this wave of Iranian transnational aggression,” McCallum said.

Three Iranian nationals—Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55—face trial in October on charges of “engaging in conduct likely to assist the Iranian foreign intelligence service” between Aug, 14, 2024, and Feb. 16, 2025.

The Epoch Times reached out to Alphege Bell, the lawyer representing Farasati, for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

PA Media contributed to this report.