Iranian Journalist Recounts 3-Wound London Stabbing as Prosecutors Tie Romanians to Iran Proxy Plot
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 19
Iranian Journalist Recounts 3-Wound London Stabbing as Prosecutors Tie Romanians to Iran Proxy Plot
7 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 19
Pouria Zeraati told a London court he was stabbed three times in the thigh outside his Wimbledon home in March 2024, then used a builder’s utility belt to slow heavy bleeding before calling 999.
Prosecutors say the attack was a targeted operation for Iran, not a robbery: one man asked for £3 change, another pinned him, and nothing was stolen before the assailants fled.
George Stana, 25, and Nandito Badea, 21, deny wounding charges; the prosecution says Badea and David Andrei carried out the stabbing while Stana waited in a Mazda getaway car.
CCTV and court evidence indicate the trio watched Zeraati’s street for three hours, then drove off, abandoned the car, took a taxi to Heathrow and flew to Geneva.
The court heard surveillance of Zeraati’s address began in March 2023 and followed earlier threats against his wife in 2022, reinforcing the prosecution claim that the assault was long planned.
Are Iranian-backed hit squads now using European criminal gangs to target dissidents on UK soil?
Is the London stabbing part of a wider, coordinated wave of Iranian-backed terror now sweeping across Europe?
Iran’s Transnational Repression in the UK: The 2024 Stabbing of Pouria Zeraati and the Surge in Proxy Attacks on Exiled Journalists
Overview
On March 29, 2024, Pouria Zeraati, a presenter for Iran International, was stabbed outside his home, leading to a major trial at Woolwich Crown Court. Defendants Nandito Badea and George Stana are charged in the case, which is ongoing as of May 2026. Prosecutors argue this attack is not an isolated crime but part of a wider, state-sponsored campaign by the Islamic Republic of Iran targeting dissidents and critics abroad. The report highlights how Iran has shifted from using its own agents to relying on proxies and criminal gangs to intimidate and silence opposition overseas.