Tehran's Foreign Ministry rejected the British assertion linking Iran to a reported security episode at RAF Fairford, characterising it as a manufactured pretext designed to inflame tensions and draw attention away from what the ministry described as London's direct participation in active US-led military action against the country.
A formal communiqué issued by the Ministry late Monday disputed Britain's claim that Iran was responsible for the reported incident, holding London — along with those the Ministry identified as having planned and carried out what it characterised as a manufactured provocation — answerable for any consequences flowing from that attribution. The statement further argued that retreating into hedged formulations such as "highly likely" and "almost certainly" did not relieve the British government of the political and legal weight attached to its assertions, and that deploying such language as a basis for attribution represented an effort to escape accountability for accusations the Ministry considered without foundation. The communiqué also pointed to what it described as a recurring pattern in British conduct — the construction of security narratives directed at other states, episodes that had, in the Ministry's account, at times fed into heightened tensions and armed confrontations across West Asia — and closed by stating that London carried an obligation to answer for maintaining a posture the Ministry argued runs counter to international peace and stability.
Hours after Home Secretary Andy Burnham stood before Parliament on Monday to address the plot uncovered the previous month — one aimed at RAF Fairford, the southern England base where United States forces operate, and attributed by Burnham to coordination by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the Prime Minister issued a statement of his own. Burnham told lawmakers that the government would deploy the full range of available powers against the criminal networks Iran was assessed to be using, targeting both those networks and their financing, while also pursuing further sanctions intended to constrain the operational reach of Iran and the IRGC.
Two Iranian nationals — Ruhollah Bazghandi, identified as heading counterespionage operations within the IRGC, and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, identified as a facilitator connected to the Zindashti criminal network — faced asset freezes, travel bans, and director disqualification after London called in the Iranian ambassador. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband confirmed the measures were tied to their purported involvement in hostile activity on British soil.
Seyed Ali Mousavi, the ambassador posted to London, appeared before UK Middle East Minister Stephen Doughty following a formal summons and told the British side that no Iranian involvement had taken place, while also calling on them to put forward any evidence underpinning their claims should such evidence exist — a position relayed through a broadcast news outlet. A willingness on Tehran's part to assist investigators in establishing the facts was conveyed through his remarks.
Prior to the detentions near Fairford, the Iranian Embassy in London had issued a statement on 28 September firmly denying any connection between Tehran and the arrests, describing such speculation as without foundation.
A coordinated diplomatic response took shape on Monday when foreign ministers from 29 nations — among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the majority of European states — released a joint statement describing Iran as responsible for a range of hostile activities, including lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber operations, and other hybrid methods directed at those countries and their allies, while also formally endorsing London's position that Iranian involvement lay behind the incident at RAF Fairford on 27 September.
British authorities have drawn the same conclusion, characterising the episode as evidence that the IRGC maintains a readiness to extend its covert reach into other countries through hidden networks and intermediary groups. Separately, police records and press accounts place the pre-dawn arrest of five British men, all in their twenties, near RAF Fairford on 27 September, with the detentions tied to suspected terrorism and explosives offences.
Over the next several days, two additional people were taken into custody, pushing the overall number of detainees to seven. An inquiry into a possible connection to a foreign state was opened by Counter Terrorism Policing. Roughly a fortnight on, investigators had yet to pin down what had caused the threat or where it had come from. As of that point, nobody had faced formal charges. Each person detained had their release from custody granted on the condition that specific restrictions would be observed.
Three vans linked to the early suspects were examined by investigators, who found only petrol inside — no explosives, detonators, drones, or weapons-grade material of any kind.
Speaking before Parliament, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described the plot's coordinator as a person known to authorities and based in Iran, though no name, correspondence, financial documentation, travel records, or other supporting intelligence was put before lawmakers. Unnamed officials, speaking only under cover of anonymity, passed word to a news outlet that intelligence assessments pointed toward a coordinated drone attack on the facility being in preparation by Iran.
According to statements attributed to Trump, an Iran-linked plot targeting military personnel and aircraft had been the driving factor behind withdrawing the bombers. Bombers of the B-1 and B-52 types, which had been positioned at Fairford, have returned to their home installations, according to a Pentagon statement.
The phrasing used by London evolved across two stages — moving from "strong indications" to a Monday declaration that the operation was "highly likely coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by the IRGC" — while the two Iranians placed under sanctions that day were not publicly named as those who organised the Fairford incident.
Situated in Gloucestershire about 160 kilometres west of London, RAF Fairford functions as the main European base the U.S. Air Force uses when it needs to position heavy bombers on the continent. A 3,000-metre runway, dedicated munitions storage, and on-site maintenance infrastructure together give the base the capacity to receive and support both B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bomber aircraft.
The foreign ministry put forward a formal, state-level deterrence position, holding that any installation used to launch strikes against its soil falls within the scope of lawful military response under the self-defence provisions of Article 51 of the UN Charter.
Officials in Tehran have stated that the country played no part in the Fairford incident, that they are open to participating in a legitimate technical inquiry, and that any such process should be accompanied by the presentation of supporting evidence. Iranian officials have indicated that, without independently verifiable evidence — documented names, financial transfers, and communications open to judicial review — the matter will be catalogued alongside earlier disputed intelligence dossiers, characterised by those officials not as counter-terrorism action but as an exercise in information management.
