Two people have been arrested in London on suspicion of assisting the Iranian intelligence services.
A 60-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman are being held under the National Security Act.
The man was arrested at an address in north-west London and the woman at a property in the north of the UK capital. The Met says the arrests were made following two searches that were previously carried out on June 24 at residential addresses in the north and north-west London areas.
Enquiries have continued following those searches, leading to the above arrests. A third residential property in the north-west London area was also searched on September 9, following the arrests of the man and woman. Both suspects were taken to a London police station and were subsequently released on bail with strict conditions until a date in late October.
The Met emphasised that the arrests are not linked to any of the attacks earlier this year on Jewish and Iranian exile targets across London, nor are they connected to any activity or events linked to the High Holy Days period.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the arrests were not the result of any immediate threat to the public.
“We’ve seen a marked increase in the tempo of our work linked to national security and state threats over the past year and this investigation is a continuation of that,” she said. “As we’ve shown here, if we suspect any activity could threaten the safety of the UK or the public, then we will not hesitate to take action.”
Two Iranians are to go on trial in London next year accused of spying on the Israeli embassy and Jewish targets under the orders of Iran's intelligence services. Nematollah Shahsavani, 41, and Alireza Farasati, 22, are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act 2023.
The pair were arrested in March. Two other men detained at the same time as part of the investigation were released without charge. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been designated a threat to the British state under new anti-terrorism powers.
Also designated is Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamiyya, which translates as the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, an IRGC-linked group that has claimed responsibility for attacks on Jewish and Iranian opposition targets in the UK and Europe.
