UK police arrest Iranian men over alleged attack plot in major
counterterror operation
[May 05, 2025]
By JILL LAWLESS
LONDON (AP) — British counterterrorism officers arrested four Iranian
men over an alleged plot to attack an unspecified target and three
others over a national security threat, police said Sunday. The
government called them the biggest “counter state threat and
counterterrorism” operations for years.
The Metropolitan Police force said five men aged between 29 and 46 were
detained Saturday in various parts of England under the Terrorism Act on
suspicion of preparing “a terrorist act.”
Four are Iranian citizens and the nationality of the fifth was still
being established.
Police said the attack plot targeted a single location that was not
being named “for operational reasons.” It said the premises was being
given "advice and support."
All the suspects were being questioned at police stations and have not
been charged. Police said they are searching several properties in
London, the Manchester area of northwest England and Swindon in western
England.
Forensic officers in blue overalls were photographed at a house in
Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where one of the men was detained. Three
of the counterterror arrests took place in the Greater Manchester area,
one in London and one in Swindon.
Rochdale resident Kyle Warren told Sky News he “heard a massive bang”
and saw “20 or 30 police with guns” drag a man from a neighboring house.
“We’ve seen a man getting pulled out from the back, basically got
dragged down the side entry and thrown into all the bushes and then
handcuffed,” he said.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the force’s Counter Terrorism Command,
said police are still working to establish a motive “as well as to
identify whether there may be any further risk to the public.”
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A sign stands in front of the New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of
the London Metropolitan Police, in London, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023.
(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Separately, three other Iranian men, aged 39, 44 and 55, were
arrested in London on suspicion of a national security offense as
part of an unrelated investigation, police said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said “these were two major operations
that reflect some of the biggest counter-state threat and
counterterrorism operations that we have seen in recent years.”
Britain’s domestic intelligence service has warned of a growing
threat from attackers linked to Tehran. Cooper said "the ongoing
investigation is immensely important" to determine whether the
arrests were connected to the Iranian state. She said “this reflects
the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security
that we continue to face.”
In October, the head of the MI5 domestic security service, Ken
McCallum, said his agents and police have tackled 20 “potentially
lethal” plots backed by Iran since 2022, most aimed at Iranians in
the U.K. who oppose the country’s authorities.
He said at the time there was the risk “of an increase in, or
broadening of, Iranian state aggression in the U.K.” if conflicts in
the Middle East deepened.
In March 2024, Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at a Farsi-language
television station critical of the Iranian government, was stabbed
in the leg outside his home in London. Two men were later arrested
in Romania and charged over the attack.
The U.K.’s official terror threat level stands at “substantial,” the
middle of a five-point scale, meaning an attack is likely.
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