Attacks, attempted murders, confiscations. The web of Iranian repression is growing ever wider

Two Iranian nationals had entered the UK illegally between 2016 and 2022 with the task of ‘eliminating’ certain ‘individuals’: their handler was a commander of the Revolutionary Guards named Amin. Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, identified their targets – two journalists from Iran International and one of the founders of a British lawyers’ association that supports Israel – and gathered information online, asked ChatGPT for details, took photographs of their homes and during their daily commutes, and kept their handler in Iran constantly updated: to ‘finish the job’, the promised reward was 150,000 pounds. Among the targets was also Kambiz Hosseini, a well-known author and commentator in the Iranian diaspora who was forced to move house due to constant threats. 

Two days ago, a British court found the two men guilty of working alongside Tehran’s intelligence services on targeted operations against dissidents outside Iran’s borders. They, too, are part of the networks that many regimes hostile to the West – primarily Russia and Iran – are building in our countries to carry out targeted attacks or assassinations: often, those recruited do not know who their handler really is or who the targets are; they simply take part in criminal operations for money. These networks are becoming ever larger and more threatening: yesterday, the Wall Street Journal, in an editorial, pointed out that the ‘assassins’ dispatched by the Iranian regime have high-profile targets, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had to move from his home to a military base due to threats, or President Donald Trump himself. “This is how the Iranian terrorist regime operates,” writes the American newspaper, “and it will not stop even if a smiling criminal shakes Vice-President J. D. Vance’s hand and promises once again that Iran will allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz once it has obtained everything it wants.” Vance is unlikely to shake any more Iranian hands, as his boss has stripped him of his post (he will now deal with corruption, with limited remit as with the Iranian dossier, but with greater familiarity with business matters), stating that an agreement with Tehran is unnecessary – a statement that makes no sense whatsoever – yet the web of repression and threats continues to widen. It is unlikely that the important figures will be the ones to pay the price: it is the unknown dissidents whom the regime is targeting with such ferocity.

The New York Times has recently reported on how Iran’s repressive apparatus is extending beyond its borders. One day in May, a retired Iranian couple found their credit cards blocked; when they went to ask for an explanation, they were told this was punishment for anti-regime posts made by their daughter, who lives in Europe. “Across Iran, the government has used asset seizures as punishment for actions carried out abroad,” writes the American newspaper. “Homes and businesses have been confiscated, life savings drained, and family heirlooms taken away. When the targets had little or nothing left in Iran, the authorities turned to their family members still living at home.” Some regime officials have stated that the confiscations are authorised by a law introduced in June 2025 (following the Twelve-Day War) which increased penalties for those accused of aiding ‘hostile governments’, in particular the United States and Israel: the assets are used to repair war damage caused by American and Israeli attacks. Since the January protests – which the Trump Administration had said it supported and which were quelled by an extremely violent crackdown that continues with executions – the number of confiscations has risen sharply, with knock-on effects for the diaspora and relatives who have remained in Iran. This is not a new tactic, as many Iranians point out, noting that this method dates back to the founding of the Islamic Republic; however, it has now reached a far greater scale than in the past, going hand in hand with operations to ‘eliminate’ journalists, experts and supporters of the anti-regime protests. In April, state media proudly declared that at least 400 people abroad had been stripped of their assets and denied access to their bank accounts. Fleeing Iran no longer guarantees protection from the Tehran regime’s violent determination to crack down on all forms of dissent.