British police announced Friday that a 39-year-old man has been formally charged with suspected involvement in assisting Iran’s intelligence service, marking the latest in a string of incidents tied to Tehran under the United Kingdom’s national security laws.
The suspect, identified as Vahid Aberi, is a resident of Liverpool in northern England. He was taken into custody at a police station in central England, and law enforcement conducted searches at addresses in both Birmingham and Liverpool.
UK security officials have repeatedly raised alarms about Iran’s attempts to use criminal networks as proxies to conduct hostile operations within Britain. Since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, a number of antisemitic attacks in Britain have been linked to Iran.
Earlier this week, Britain moved to ban support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, invoking new legal powers specifically designed to combat the use of state-sponsored proxy actors.
Investigators said they have not identified any direct threat to any specific community or individual in connection with the Aberi case, but acknowledged that authorities are stepping in more often to disrupt suspected foreign intelligence activity.
“We have seen a significant and sustained increase in the tempo of our work in national security investigations in recent years,” said Helen Flanagan, who leads counter terrorism policing in London, in an official statement.
Just last week, Britain called in Iran’s top diplomat to address the stabbing of an Iranian journalist in London — a crime for which two Romanian nationals were convicted.
Iran’s embassy in London has previously pushed back against accusations of threatening British security, dismissing such claims as “unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations.”
Aberi was scheduled to appear before a London court later on Friday.
