Three men linked to the stabbing of an Iranian journalist outside his south London home are believed to have fled the country within hours of the attack, Scotland Yard has said.
Pouria Zeraati, 36, sustained an injury to his leg after being attacked in Wimbledon on Friday afternoon. He has since been discharged from hospital. The victim was attacked by two men in a residential street with the suspects fleeing the scene in a vehicle driven by a third male, the Metropolitan police added.
The vehicle was abandoned shortly after the attack and is being examined by forensic experts. The Met said that, after abandoning the vehicle, the suspects travelled to Heathrow and left the UK.
Because the victim is a presenter at Iran International, a Farsi-language media organisation based in the UK, and previous threats had been directed towards its journalists, the incident is being investigated by specialist officers from the Met’s counter-terrorism command.
A statement from Scotland Yard said: “Detectives have established the victim was approached by two men in a residential street and attacked. The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle driven by a third male.
“The vehicle – a blue Mazda 3 – was abandoned in the New Malden area shortly after the attack. Detectives have located the vehicle and it is being examined by forensic experts. Searches in the area continue.
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“The investigation team has established that, after abandoning the vehicle, the suspects travelled directly to Heathrow airport and left the UK within a few hours of the attack.”
Iran International is the most popular news channel in Iran, according to independent surveys, in spite of being banned in the country by the Revolutionary Guards, which labelled the organisation as a “terrorist” channel.
Iran International returned to its London broadcasting studios last September after taking up a temporary sanctuary in Washington DC in February 2023 over a “significant escalation in state-backed threats from Iran”.