Two Iranian men were found guilty of spying in dissident journalists in Britain on behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Thursday.
British counterterrorism police said the case reflected intensifying hostile Iranian activity in the country, an issue that recently made headlines amid the security scare at the RAF Fairford airbase that's a major operational site in Europe for the US Air Force.
The men, both in their 40s, were arrested last year, with Iran repeatedly rejecting the allegations against them.
The Woolwich Crown Court in London convicted one of the Iranian citizens not just of spying on journalists working for the Persian-language dissident TV channel Iran International, but of plotting a violent attack against one or more of them.
The second individual had also faced charges of plotting an attack but was only convicted of spying on the reporters.
One of the convicted defendants said he was acting under duress after his family was threatened, and the other said he did not know that his actions were assisting Iranian intelligence.
A third defendant, a 57-year-old Iranian man, was acquitted of all charges.
The men were accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's multi-discipline military force that's seen as closer to the country's religious leadership and more influential than its regular armed forces.
