Andy Burnham, serving as British Prime Minister, on Monday pointed to Iran's Revolutionary Guards as the party responsible for an incident with terror-related dimensions that took place in September at Fairford air base in England, a facility operated by the United States military. Iran's ambassador to Britain was called in for a meeting with the Foreign Office after Tehran put forward a denial of the allegations.
Burnham told reporters that the alleged plot targeting RAF Fairford carried features consistent with Iranian coordination, with the Revolutionary Guard Corps identified as the most likely organising force behind the operation. Burnham told parliament that assessments pointed with near-certainty to coordination originating in Iran, with direction attributed to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, while earlier reporting had described a suspected drone plot linked to Tehran and a presidential statement that a related threat had factored into the withdrawal of bombers from the base.
Five men were detained in the vicinity of RAF Fairford — the Gloucestershire base that had served as a launch point for American bomber operations against Iran — during the early hours of 27 September. The arrests, on suspicion of terrorism and offences related to explosives, drew a substantial security response to the site.
All seven individuals taken into custody were subsequently freed — five of them on police bail tied to strict conditions, and two others, one of whom held British-Iranian citizenship, without any charges being brought. Investigators reported that the vehicles taken into custody alongside the five arrested men contained fuel but no device capable of detonating. Investigators have so far gathered only limited information about the alleged plot.
Seyed Ali Mousavi, who serves as Iran's ambassador to the United Kingdom, told IRNA that his country had no part in the Fairford incident and called on British authorities to put forward any documents or evidence underpinning their position. Miliband, serving as foreign minister, announced that the Iranian ambassador had been called in for a formal meeting.
Detectives and Burnham have each drawn attention to the involvement of an overseas state in the matter. Speaking through parliament, the Home Secretary named an Iran-based individual — whose identity she chose to keep undisclosed — as the person thought to be behind the incident. Burnham set out that any use of criminal networks by Iranian operatives on British territory would draw sanctions, asset-targeting measures, and a wider effort to reduce the capacity of both Iran and the IRGC to carry out hostile activity.
A joint statement bearing the signatures of nearly 30 governments — among them the United States, Canada, France, and Germany — characterised a pattern of activity attributed to Iran, encompassing arson, sabotage, cyber operations, lethal plotting, and other covert methods directed at their nations and allied partners. The UK further noted that the episode reflected the IRGC's continued readiness to project disruptive operations beyond its own territory through proxy actors and covert networks.
Over a period of years, UK authorities have put forward allegations that Iran directed a range of plots and attempted killings on British soil through the use of criminal intermediaries — allegations that Iranian officials have consistently contested. Figures released by the government indicated that 20 plots attributed to Iranian-backed operatives — targeting people living in the country — had been assessed as credible over the preceding twelve months.
Legislation enacted in July extended sanctions to the IRGC and an affiliated organisation, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), a body that took responsibility for seven attacks carried out earlier in the year at venues connected to Jewish and Israeli communities as well as Persian-language broadcasters. The Foreign Office announced that sanctions were placed on two Iranian nationals.
Those named include Ruhollah Bazghandi, identified by British authorities as holding a counterespionage leadership role within the IRGC, and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, described as a facilitator connected to the Zindashti criminal network — an organisation that had already been placed under sanctions and that faces allegations of involvement in multiple plots targeting Iranian dissidents.
