British Police Charge Liverpool Man with Assisting Iran's Intelligence Service

British police charged Vahid Aberi, a 39-year-old man from Liverpool, on Friday with assisting Iran's intelligence service under UK national security laws. Officers took Aberi to a police station in central England and searched addresses in Birmingham and Liverpool. Police said they had not identified any direct threat to any community or individual.

They noted they were intervening more frequently to disrupt suspected activity by foreign intelligence services. Helen Flanagan, head of counter terrorism policing in London, said in a statement that her teams had seen a significant and sustained increase in the tempo of national security investigations in recent years.

Britain banned support for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps earlier this week.

Last week Britain summoned Iran's most senior diplomat in London after two Romanians were convicted of stabbing an Iranian journalist in the city. UK security officials have repeatedly warned that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity in the country. Aberi is scheduled to appear in court in London later on Friday.