London court finds 2 Iranian men guilty of spying for Iran

LONDON (AP) — Two Iranian men who spied on journalists working for a Persian-language broadcaster in London were found guilty Thursday of spying for Iran.

Following a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south London, Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, were convicted of engaging in conduct likely to assist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC was outlawed by the U.K. in July under new powers to counteract state threats, with penalties of up to 14 years in prison for anyone convicted of supporting or assisting the organization.

A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted on all charges.

“This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime,” said Frank Ferguson, chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division.

He said the pair were promised rewards in exchange for sending intelligence back to Iran, while Sepahvand was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets.

These included journalists for Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, and a founding member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner. Iran International is banned by the government in Tehran.

London's Metropolitan Police said this was the fourth case in recent years involving a direct threat to Iran International journalists and that it is “working hard to keep them safe.”

“The threat from hostile states to the U.K. is increasing and Iran continues to adapt its approach to using ‘proxies’,” said Vicki Evans, a deputy assistant commissioner at the London police.

“We have seen examples of people who fly into the country to carry out criminal activity and then leave shortly afterwards, to using British nationals or, in this case, Iranian nationals with settled immigration status,” she added.

Counterterrorism police have looked into the possible involvement of Iranian proxies in a series of recent incidents, particularly attacks on the Jewish community in London, including the arson attack on four Jewish community ambulances earlier this year that many said was a direct result of the start of the Iran war. Most recently, Iran has been linked with a plot against a U.S.-run military air base in England.

The Iranian Embassy in the U.K. has said that it “categorically rejects” allegations of involvement in “violent activities or incidents in the United Kingdom.”

Sepahvand and Manesh were accused of visiting addresses linked to their targets, taking photos and videos, and using platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.

“Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place,” prosecutor Ferguson said.

The pair will be sentenced at London's Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, on Dec. 17.

FILE - A general view of Woolwich Crown Court in London, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five people were shot early Thursday in a trendy Washington, D.C., neighborhood within walking distance of the White House, said police, who were responding to multiple locations.

The shooter had not been caught, and the locations of the shootings were unclear, police department spokesperson Nicole Deaner said.

The shootings were reported in Logan Circle, about 1 mile north of the White House. No other details are immediately available, police Officer Nathan Clarke said.

Police urged people to avoid the area of the 1500 block of 15th Street, which includes a VIDA fitness center, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and residences and is around the corner from a Whole Foods supermarket. Much of the block was cordoned off. Schools near the scene were placed on lockdown.

Streets around the area also were blocked off during a massive police response. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it sent agents to the scene to help. And the FBI said its Washington field office was helping local police with the investigation.

Witness Ryan Dubicki was in his nearby apartment around 8 a.m. when, he said, he “heard about five bangs.”

"They were really spread out so I thought it was construction,” he said. It was only a short time later that he looked out “and there were cops everywhere.”

His apartment building managers sent a notice that there was a possible active shooter.

The neighborhood has seen violence before. In early August 2025, a onetime member of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted early on a Sunday morning in the Logan Circle neighborhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman, authorities said.

Days later, Trump fulfilled his threat to bypass local authority and imposed direct federal control over the city, sending in hundreds of National Guard members to reduce crime. That deployment continues today.

Local law enforcement respond to reports of an active shooting investigation, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)