Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham, has told parliament that a suspected plot against the RAF Fairford airbase in southern England was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tehran has rejected any responsibility, and the episode remains largely unclear.
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Burnham said he would not accept threats on British soil. He said the government would move against Iran’s reliance on criminal networks, using all of its powers to pursue those networks and their money sources, and that more sanctions were coming to limit Iran’s and the IRGC’s capacity to harm the country.
Arrests and petrol seizure near the airbase
The incident happened in the early hours of September 27, when five British men in their twenties were detained on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offences. Police said they found petrol in three vans linked to the suspects but no explosives. The men were later freed without charge on police bail, subject to strict conditions.
Further arrests followed. Counter Terrorism Policing detained a 22-year-old British national last week on suspicion of a terror offence connected to the security incident, and earlier this month a 25-year-old British-Iranian man was arrested in London.
Sanctions and a joint statement from 29 nations
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced on X that Britain is sanctioning two Iranians over their part in hostile activity carried out for the Iranian regime. He did not name them, and said Britain had repeatedly warned Tehran that it would not tolerate threats on its soil.
The sanctions came the same day that 29 countries, among them Britain, the United States, most European states, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, issued a joint statement blaming Iran for an attempted infiltration. The statement said any effort by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate or harm people in their territories, whether through proxies or other means, was unacceptable.
Iran’s envoy denies role and offers cooperation
On Monday, Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Ali Mousavi, met Stephen Doughty, Britain’s minister for the Middle East. Mousavi firmly denied any Iranian involvement and urged the British side to avoid unsubstantiated claims. He told British authorities that Tehran was ready to cooperate with the investigation, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Iran’s embassy in London had issued a statement last month calling the speculation unfounded and malicious, warning that it would feed what it described as Iranophobia propaganda. Separately, the US moved its B-52 and B-1 bombers out of RAF Fairford earlier this month. According to US officials, the withdrawal followed concerns about a suspected Iranian plan for a complex drone attack on the facility.
The base has served as a stopping point for US bombers taking part in the war against Iran, a conflict that began on February 28 and has now lasted over seven months. Located roughly 160km (100 miles) west of London, RAF Fairford is the preferred European base for American bombers.
