Amid reports Khamenei owns apartments overlooking embassy

Two men appear in UK court on suspicion of spying on Israeli Embassy, Jewish sites for Iran

Prosecutors say Iranian national, dual Iranian-British man had target lists including embassy and consulate, London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue, community center

Two men appeared in a London court on Thursday, accused of being tasked by Iran to carry out hostile surveillance on the Israeli Embassy, Britain’s oldest synagogue, and other Jewish targets.

The suspects, Nematollah Shahsavani, ​40, a dual Iranian-British national, and Alireza ​Farasati, 22, an Iranian national, were charged under the UK’s National Security Act as part of an investigation in north London over ​five weeks spanning July and August.

Prosecutor Louise Attrill told London’s Westminster Magistrates Court that devices seized from the two men had contained a list of targets.

These included the Israeli embassy, the local Israeli consulate, London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue, a Jewish community center, and the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security advice for the country’s Jews.

The court appearance came a week after UK media reported that Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, owns two luxury London apartments “overlooking the Israeli embassy” in west London.

The two apartments, acquired by Mojtaba through various intermediaries in 2014 and 2016 but only traced to him recently, are located on the sixth and seventh floors of a building on the same street as the embassy, Palace Green in Kensington, the Evening Standard and Daily Mail reported.

Prosecutor Attrill said the evidence suggested Shahsavani, who had travelled to Iran last April and was stopped under counter-terrorism regulations when he returned to Britain in August, had been given instructions by Iranian intelligence services, and had tasked Farasati to carry out the surveillance.

The men did not enter a plea and were remanded in custody until their next hearing at London’s Old Bailey Court on April 17. Farasati’s lawyer Alphege Bell said his client was “no religious fanatic.”

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police has said four suspects — one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals — were taken into custody on March 6 on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, with the country in question identified as Iran. Police said the two other men had been released without charge.

They were arrested “as part of an investigation into alleged surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area,” police said.

British lawmakers ​and the domestic spy agency MI5 have long warned of threats posed to Britain by Iran, with a number of arrests ​made and plots discovered in recent years, before the ​US-Israeli war with Iran began almost three weeks ago.

In October 2025, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said that British security agencies had tracked “more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” in the previous year.

“These are extremely serious charges under the National Security Act, which have come about following what has been a very complex investigation,” Counter Terrorism Police senior ‌national ⁠coordinator Vicki Evans said in a statement about the recent arrests.

“We fully recognize that the public – and in particular the Jewish community – will be concerned, but I hope this investigation reassures them that we will not hesitate to take action if we identify there may be a threat to their safety, and will be relentless in our pursuit of those who may be responsible,” Evans added.

The case came days after 12 people were arrested on Sunday, when hundreds of protesters turned out in London for an annual al-Quds Day march that was banned by the government after police said it was organized by a group “supportive of the Iranian regime.”

British police said in a statement they were also investigating anti-Israeli chants allegedly made at the rally.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said earlier this week she had agreed to the ban to “prevent serious public disorder” in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel, a Conservative lawmaker, said in Parliament that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) threatens the UK’s security and called for legislation designating them a terrorist organization.

British Jewish organizations have expressed concern over rising antisemitism in the country, especially after a deadly shooting attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur.

In February, two men were jailed for plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Jewish community in England.

Later that month, the British government was given permission to appeal against a ruling that struck down its designation of the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. The UK government proscribed Palestine Action after activists in June 2025 broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized two planes, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage, in protest of Britain’s support for Israel.

In addtion, six British anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists will face a retrial on a number of charges relating to a 2024 raid on Israeli defense firm Elbit’s UK factory, after they were acquitted of the charge of aggravated burglary last month.