British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told reporters on Monday that an alleged plot targeting a US-operated military airfield in England had, in his assessment, been orchestrated by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a high degree of probability. Burnham had previously indicated that intelligence pointed to Iranian involvement in what appeared to be a plot, uncovered the previous month, to target RAF Fairford — an airfield that American bomber crews had been using to conduct strikes against Iran during the ongoing conflict.
Seven men taken into custody as part of the inquiry into the purported conspiracy have since been freed on bail, with no formal charges filed against any of them. Iran has not accepted responsibility for the incident, though it has previously stated that any facility used to launch attacks against its territory would be viewed as a legitimate military objective.
Burnham told lawmakers that the assessment pointed to coordination originating in Iran, almost certainly under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that such threats on home soil would not be accepted. On 27 September, dozens of residents living near the air base were moved from their homes as armed police and army bomb-disposal teams spread across the surrounding countryside.
Investigators subsequently reported that three vans connected to the five people taken into custody at the scene contained amounts of gasoline, though no explosive materials turned up during the search. Each of the individuals taken into custody falls within the 20-to-29 age range. Of the seven individuals, six hold British nationality, while the remaining person carries citizenship in both the United Kingdom and Iran.
Bombers previously stationed at RAF Fairford — a base roughly 160 kilometres west of London — were withdrawn to their home installations in the United States last week, with Pentagon officials confirming that no American aircraft remained at the facility. Separately, the administration had indicated it viewed the base as a target of Iranian plots aimed at killing American personnel and destroying aircraft there.
London granted permission for RAF Fairford to be used by American forces carrying out what were described as retaliatory operations against Iranian missile systems and their associated launch infrastructure, after Iran conducted attacks on targets linked to British interests and allied nations in the Gulf region.
On Monday, the government summoned Iran's ambassador to register its formal objections over what it characterised as Tehran's involvement in criminal networks, proxy organisations, and state-directed operations that it said posed a threat to domestic and allied security. That move was accompanied by the announcement of sanctions against two Iranian nationals, one of whom holds responsibility for counterespionage within the Revolutionary Guard.
Allegations have surfaced at various points linking Iran and affiliated armed factions to the planning or execution of attacks on American, British, and Jewish targets, with local intermediaries said to have been used in carrying out those operations.
Foreign ministers from more than two dozen Western nations published a joint declaration on Monday, asserting that Iran had directed hostile operations against their countries through intermediaries and other channels, and warning that those who carry out such activities on behalf of any state would face identification, investigation, disruption, and prosecution.
