Liverpool man charged with spying for Iran

A Liverpool man has been charged with spying for Iran after an investigation by counter-terror police.Vahid Aberi, 39, was arrested on Wednesday in the Birmingham area on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.“The country to which the investigation relates is Iran,” Counter Terrorism Policing London said in a statement.Aberi was taken to a West Midlands police station and officers searched addresses in Birmingham and Liverpool.He has now been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to section 3(1) and (9) of the National Security Act 2023.An Iranian flag flies outside the country's embassy in London (Getty) “We have seen a significant and sustained increase in the tempo of our work in national security investigations in recent years,” Commander Helen