LONDON (VINnews) — British police on Friday charged a 39-year-old man from Liverpool with assisting Iran’s intelligence service, the latest case highlighting Tehran’s alleged efforts to conduct hostile activities in the United Kingdom through proxies.

Vahid Aberi was charged under the UK’s National Security Act, authorities said. He was arrested and taken to a police station in central England, with searches conducted at addresses in Birmingham and Liverpool.

UK security officials have repeatedly warned that Iran seeks to leverage criminal networks and proxies for espionage and other threats. The charging comes days after Britain banned support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under new powers aimed at countering state-sponsored activity.

Since the outbreak of the US-Iran war, Britain has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents linked to Iranian influence, according to officials.

Police emphasized that the investigation into Aberi has not identified any immediate threat to any specific community or individual. However, authorities noted an uptick in such cases.

“We have seen a significant and sustained increase in the tempo of our work in national security investigations in recent years,” Helen Flanagan, head of counter terrorism policing in London, said in a statement.