Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ken McCallum — who leads the domestic intelligence service — outlined how Tehran's operational focus appeared to be widening well beyond its historically documented targeting of Iranian dissidents, both inside the country and overseas, with a suspected incident at RAF Fairford offered as one illustration of a pattern that now encompasses military installations and other sites across Britain. McCallum also raised incendiary and sabotage incidents targeting Jewish community sites, acts that British authorities have linked to operatives acting on behalf of Iran.
McCallum noted that a shift toward harder-to-reach objectives — among them installations with a defence function — had taken shape over the course of the year, and that comparable activity had been recorded in countries beyond Britain.
Counter-terrorism investigators are currently looking into a suspected plot connected to RAF Fairford, a Gloucestershire air base operated by the United States that served as a launch point for strikes against Iran earlier this year. Homes close to the base were cleared on 27 September after police officers and military explosive-ordnance teams moved in to address a security incident tied to three vans. Fuel was found in the vehicles when officers conducted their search, though no explosive materials turned up.
Bail was granted to all seven individuals — each in their twenties — after their arrest as part of the ongoing inquiry, with detectives continuing to gather evidence. Their release from custody carries no implication that the inquiry is over, nor that any wrongdoing on their part has been established.
Security concerns at RAF Fairford prompted the United States Air Force to relocate its bomber aircraft away from the base. That decision has been tied by American officials to concerns about a potential drone strike with Iranian backing, though investigators have yet to determine the full scope or intent of the suspected operation. A probe conducted within the United Kingdom pointed to Iran as the party bearing responsibility for the incident.
On Monday, Burnham told reporters that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was, in his assessment, the almost certain force behind the suspected plot. Beyond its armed forces function, the IRGC holds roles spanning politics, economics, and social influence within Iran. Serving as a core pillar of the state's apparatus, the body handles domestic surveillance, intelligence gathering, regional reach, and clandestine operations abroad.
Western governments have placed responsibility for a broad set of operations directed at Iranian dissidents, journalists, targets identified as Israeli or Jewish, and other groups deemed adversarial on Iranian intelligence bodies and networks tied to the IRGC. Iranian officials did not accept any role in the matter and issued a statement distancing the country from any part in it. On prior occasions, the position put forward by Iranian officials held that installations used to launch attacks against Iranian soil fall within the bounds of permissible military targets.
The probe is unfolding against a backdrop of broader unease in Britain over a range of activities reportedly tied to Iran, among them attacks on Jewish community sites and threats directed at individuals who have spoken out against the Tehran government. McCallum's remarks point to a persistent challenge facing Britain's security apparatus: identifying and neutralising suspected state-sponsored activity before it can escalate into an attack.
No public account has yet laid out the complete sequence of events at RAF Fairford, nor has responsibility for ordering them been traced to any individual.
