The convictions of two asylum seekers for spying for Iran show its “willingness to use proxies to target the regime’s critics abroad”, prosecutors have said.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, was also found guilty of carrying out surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and March last year in a bid to inflict violence on “subjects” in the UK.

Sepahvand and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, both Iranian, were convicted of engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran’s intelligence service, despite Manesh having claimed he did not know he was working to assist the Middle Eastern country.

Sepahvand arrived in the UK on a lorry in 2016, while Manesh came to the country in a small boat in 2019. Both have temporary leave to remain.

The “subjects” included journalists for London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International, Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, and a founder member of UK Lawyers for Israel, Jonathan Turner.

Three defendants who faced a trial at Woolwich Crown Court were accused of visiting addresses linked to their targets, taking photos and videos, and using platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.

The prosecution said Sepahvand intended to physically carry out a “violent attack” against at least one of the targets.

Sepahvand lent forward and held his head in his hands when he was found guilty on Thursday following 19 hours and nine minutes of jury deliberations.

Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was cleared of engaging in conduct likely to assist the intelligence service.

Manesh and Noori were also acquitted of engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.

All three defendants arrived in the UK illegally between 2016 and 2022 – with Sepahvand arriving by lorry and the others in small boats – according to Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP).

They claimed asylum and were later granted temporary leave to remain. None had regular full-time employment.

Sepahvand and Manesh lived together in London, and the first defendant and Noori also lived together briefly after meeting through the Iranian community in Ealing, west London.

“It’s not our case that these men were part of what the media often refer to as a sleeper cell, and that they travelled to the UK with an intention of carrying out these criminal acts,” deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for CTP said.

“They do appear to have met by chance in their community and then to have been directed by Sepahvand and his contacts in Iran.”

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

“Sepahvand and Manesh were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran, and Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets.

“Thankfully, the defendants were stopped before any attack could take place.

“Cases like this show Iranian intelligence’s willingness to use proxies to target the regime’s critics abroad.”

During the trial, Sepahvand claimed he was threatened into conducting surveillance against his will.

But prosecutors described this as an “entirely bogus claim” and told jurors he did it to get paid and have a theft conviction in Iran “fixed”.

In a voice note read to the court during the trial, Sepahvand told an associate he will “finish off” a target if he is paid £150,000.

Sepahvand described being threatened into acting against targets, recalling one warning: “If you don’t do it they will hit you and your family” – with jurors previously told the term “hit” could also mean to stab.

He also made reference to the Iranian authorities’ ability to send police to his mother’s house in Iran.

CTP said they believed Sepahvand would likely have carried out any attack with a low sophistication weapon, such as a knife.

Mr Turner, the chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, an association of lawyers that support Israel, said the trial details are reminders that “Iran is a really serious threat to many people in the Middle East – not just Israelis but Arabs as well – and also to people in Britain, including on the streets of our capital”.

He said: “No-one should underestimate the seriousness of this threat and the importance of efforts to thwart it.”

Mr Turner also said he was “pleased and relieved” by the convictions and thanked police and prosecutors.

This is the fourth prosecution of individuals who have targeted employees of Iran International or their place of work in London.

Other prosecutions include the jailing of two men for stabbing Iran International journalist Pouria Zeraati outside his home in Wimbledon, south London, in March 2024, and the imprisonment of a man for spying on Iran International before a “planned attack” on British soil in February 2023.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, told the Press Association: “We know that Iran has a desire to project threat here into the UK.

“We have seen an increase in the threat from some foreign states, Iran included, and a desire to reach in and conduct sabotage, espionage activity here in the UK.

“That continues to grow, but we continue to put all of our resources towards this to focus on ensuring that we prevent those who want to conduct that activity from doing so, and that we bring those who intend to do it to justice where we can.”

Ms Evans said the increase in interest from Iran – which is at war with the United States and which has been involved in conflict with Israel – comes amid “huge instability internationally”.

In a statement following the verdicts, security minister Dan Jarvis said: “These convictions are proof of the exceptional work the police, intelligence agencies and the Crown Prosecution Service do every day to keep us safe and bring perpetrators to justice.

“A free and independent media is a cornerstone of our democracy. Whilst states like Iran seek to silence their critics, we will always defend journalists’ freedom to do their work without fear of harm or intimidation.

“The threats we face from Iran are grave and real, and this case sends a clear message to those acting in their malign interests, that they will not succeed.

“We will continue to face down these threats, with record funding for our intelligence agencies and new powers to crack down on those acting on behalf of foreign states.”

Sepahvand and Manesh will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 17.