British anti-terrorism police investigate attack on Persian-speaking journalist

British counter-terrorism detectives are investigating the attack on a journalist working for a Persian-language media organization, amid fears he had been targeted because of his work, police said.

Police said the man, aged 30, was stabbed and suffered a leg injury in the incident in Wimbledon, south-west London, on Friday afternoon (29).

Britain's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the victim was prominent British-based Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, who hosts a program on the Persian-language television news network, Iran International, that is critical of the government from Iran.

Police said they do not believe his injuries are life-threatening and that he is in stable condition.

“This cowardly attack on Pouria is deeply shocking, and our thoughts are with him, his family and all his colleagues at Iran International,” Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said in a statement.

In January, Britain imposed sanctions on Iranian officials who it said were involved in death threats to journalists on British soil.

These officials were members of Unit 840 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which, according to an ITV news investigation in Britain, was involved in plans to assassinate two Iran International television presenters in the United Kingdom.

“While we are keeping an open mind, given the victim's occupation and our publicized concerns about the threat to employees of this organization, the investigation is being led by Counter Terrorism Command,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of that unit.

“I must emphasize that at this early stage in our investigation we do not know why this victim was attacked and there may be several explanations for this.”

There was no immediate response from Iranian authorities to the report.

British police and security officials have increasingly warned about Iran's growing use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad.

According to them, there have been more than 15 direct threats to kill or kidnap dissidents or political opponents linked to the Iranian state apparatus in the last two years.

In December, an Austrian man was convicted of collecting information that could be used in a terrorist attack after being accused of carrying out “hostile reconnaissance” at the London headquarters of Iran International.

“It is too early to know whether this violent attack is related to Iran’s increasing intimidation and harassment, including the plan to assassinate journalists Fardad Farahzad and Sima Sabet in 2022,” Stanistreet said.

“However, this brutal stabbing will inevitably raise fears among the many journalists targeted by Iran International and the BBC Persian Service that they are not safe at home or at work.”