Pouria Zeraati: Iranian journalist was stabbed in 'targeted' attack in London, court told

A journalist stabbed outside his London home was the victim of "a planned and targeted attack" by "proxies" of the Iranian state, a court has heard.

Iranian Pouria Zeraati was left bleeding in the street after he was stabbed three times in the leg as he walked to his car in Wimbledon in March 2024.

Romanian nationals Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, have both denied charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and wounding.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told Woolwich Crown Court on Monday that the pair were the money-motivated "hired help" tasked with doing Mr Zeraati "really serious harm".

They allegedly carried out "a planned attack preceded by reconnaissance, and which was ordered by a third party acting on behalf of the Iranian state".

Mr Atkinson said it wasn't a robbery or a fight that got out of control, but a "deliberate" attack intended to inflict "serious injury on Zeraati".

British-based Mr Zeraati worked for Iran International, a competitor to Iran's state broadcaster, which Tehran labelled "a network of spies", and whose journalists were subjected to harassment, the jury heard.

The Persian-language news outlet, its employees and their families, faced threats and in 2023 it relocated temporarily from Chiswick in west London to Washington DC.

As a well-known journalist, Mr Zeraati was "an obvious and readily identifiable target for violence to be inflicted by proxies acting for the Islamic Republic of Iran", according to the prosecution.

His photograph was among a number of journalists who appeared on a "Wanted: dead or alive" poster that was put up in the Iranian capital in November 2022.

The defendants, along with another man, named as David Andrei, who is not part of this trial, spent so long in the area that passers-by thought they were waiting for a taxi, the court heard.

It is alleged that Stana, Badea and Andrei had stayed at a hotel in West Brompton the night before the assault.

Read more:
Musk loses AI case
Missing divers' bodies found

The court heard Badea approached Mr Zeraati and asked for money before Andrei joined him and grabbed Mr Zeraati "with a very strong and firm grip to his front".

Mr Atkinson told the trial: "Mr Zeraati then saw Badea produce a knife from his pocket, and Badea then stabbed Mr Zeraati to the top of his thigh near his buttock.

"He was stabbed three times in rapid succession before the two attackers ran off, leaving Mr Zeraati injured and bleeding."

Stana then drove them from the scene in a Mazda and they caught a flight to Geneva from Heathrow Airport, the court heard.

The trial continues.

(c) Sky News 2026: Pouria Zeraati: Iranian journalist was stabbed in 'targeted' attack in London, court told