Iran summoned the British ambassador in Tehran on Thursday, two days after Britain called in Iran's most senior diplomat in London following the conviction of two Romanian men over the stabbing of an Iran International journalist.
Iran's foreign ministry said it handed the ambassador a protest note rejecting what it called "groundless and false" British statements that Tehran had sought to carry out security-related activities in the United Kingdom.
Britain summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires on Tuesday after George Stana and Nandito Badea were sentenced to 12 years and eight years in prison, respectively, for their role in the 2024 attack on Pouria Zeraati, an Iranian-British journalist who works for Iran International.
Zeraati was stabbed three times in the leg near his home in southwest London in March 2024.
British prosecutors said the two Romanian nationals were acting as proxies for the Iranian government. They had pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent but were convicted at London's Woolwich Crown Court.
Judge links attack to Iranian state
The British Foreign Office said the judge had concluded that the attack was carried out "in the interests of, and on behalf of, the Iranian state."
According to a police statement, the judge ruled that the "foreign power condition" under Britain's National Security Act was met in Stana's case because of "extensive planning and his lengthy involvement in the plot", indicating that he knew, or at least should have known, of the connection to the Iranian state.
The police statement said the condition was not met in Badea's case because he was not aware of the Iran connection as the reason for the attack.
Tehran rejects British move
Iran's foreign ministry rejected Britain's statements as "groundless and false" and said they amounted to an attempt to divert attention from Britain's own conduct.
Britain's Foreign Office said the case followed "a longstanding pattern of hostile activity by the Iranian intelligence services on UK soil" and said Iran must stop such activity immediately. Iran's embassy in London has rejected what it called "unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations."
Iran's foreign ministry also called on Britain to stop hosting media outlets that Tehran said were "funded and directed by the Israeli regime." It said Britain should end such activity "as soon as possible."
The case stems from protests on January 8 at Alikhani Square in Isfahan, where authorities said four Basij members were killed.
According to the lawyer, 59 people were initially arrested after the incident.
The lawyer said 23 of those detained were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison, even though they were not accused of directly taking part in the deaths and appeared to have been added to the case to strengthen the prosecution’s broader narrative.
Twelve others were sentenced to death.
The lawyer said the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences on July 5 and the case has now been sent to the sentence enforcement branch of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, raising fears that the executions could be carried out soon.
The prosecutor in the case is Mohammad Nakhjavan, according to the information received. The judges are Mohammad Barati-Dorcheh and Mohammad Tavakoli, also known as Vakili.
Tavakoli previously served as a judge in the “Khaneh Isfahan” (Isfahan House) case, another protest-linked case in Isfahan that ended with the execution of Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi in May 2023.
The lawyer said the defendants in the Alikhani Square case were denied access to independent lawyers during the trial stage and were represented by court-appointed attorneys.
The lawyer also said the court blocked defense lawyers from accessing the full case files.
The 12 protesters sentenced to death are mostly very young men. Three were born in 2007 and were around 17 or 18 at the time of the January 2026 protests. Several others were born between 2004 and 2006, and one is an Afghan national. Two brothers are among those facing execution.
The judiciary has not publicly responded to the allegations about denial of access to independent counsel and case files.
The case fits a pattern seen in several protest-linked capital cases in Iran, where the reported deaths of security personnel or pro-government forces have been followed by broad arrests, charges carrying the death penalty and claims by families, lawyers and rights groups that defendants were denied fair trial guarantees.
Rights groups have warned that Iran’s use of death sentences in protest cases has become a tool of intimidation, particularly after periods of unrest, with executions used to send a message far beyond the individual defendants.
Amnesty International said in February that at least 30 people were facing the death penalty over alleged offences linked to the January 2026 protests, including eight people sentenced to death after expedited and “grossly unfair” trials.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran said in April that at least 22 political prisoners had been executed in six weeks, including 10 people detained during the January protests, in cases it said were marked by secretive proceedings, torture, forced confessions and lack of due process.
Human Rights Watch said the January unrest was met with mass killings, arbitrary arrests and severe communications restrictions, with thousands of protesters and bystanders believed to have been killed after protests escalated on January 8.
The new Isfahan case raises the number of protest-linked prisoners facing imminent execution and adds to fears that Iran’s judiciary is accelerating capital punishment in cases tied to the January uprising.
