UK Says Fairford Air Base Plot “Highly Likely” Coordinated in Iran, Directed by IRGC

London: British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday that a suspected plot targeting the RAF Fairford air base was “highly likely” to have been coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), announcing fresh sanctions and a crackdown on Tehran’s use of criminal networks on British soil.

Addressing Parliament, the Prime Minister said, “I can confirm our assessment that it is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.”

RAF Fairford, located in southwest England and used by United States bombers to conduct strikes on Iran, became the focus of a major security operation after five British men were arrested near the base in the early hours of September 27 on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offences. US officials have said that the suspected plot involved an Iranian-linked plan to launch a drone attack, and last week US President Donald Trump stated that a threat linked to Iran had prompted the decision to withdraw the bombers from the base.

Details of the alleged plot remain limited. The five detained men were subsequently released without charge on police bail under stringent conditions, while two other men arrested in connection with the case, including a British-Iranian national, have also been released. Detectives have stated that petrol, but no viable explosive device, was found in vans seized at the time of the arrests. Nevertheless, both the police and the Prime Minister have pointed to the involvement of a foreign state.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood informed Parliament that an unnamed individual known to the authorities and based in Iran was believed to be behind the incident.

“We will not tolerate these threats on our soil,” Prime Minister Burnham said. “We will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams, and we will bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to do us harm.”

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he had summoned the Iranian ambassador, while the Foreign Office announced sanctions against two Iranian nationals: Ruhollah Bazghandi, described by Britain as the IRGC’s head of counterespionage operations, and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, a facilitator for the already sanctioned Zindashti criminal network, which is accused of involvement in several plots against Iranian dissidents.

In a coordinated show of support, the foreign ministries of nearly 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, France and Germany, issued a joint statement condemning “Iran’s use of violent attacks, including the acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities against us and our partners.” The statement added that the United Kingdom had concluded the incident demonstrated “the IRGC’s continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors.”

Tehran has firmly rejected any link to the Fairford incident. “Tehran has had no involvement in this matter, and if the British government possesses any documents or evidence to support its claims, it should present them,” said Iran’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Seyed Ali Mousavi, as quoted by Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

British authorities have for several years accused Iran of involvement in numerous plots and attempted assassinations in the UK carried out through criminal networks and proxies, allegations Tehran has consistently denied. Last year, Britain reported 20 credible Iranian-backed threats to kill or kidnap individuals based in the country. In July, the government used new powers to ban support for the IRGC and a linked group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), which had claimed responsibility for seven attacks earlier this year on sites associated with Jewish and Israeli communities and Persian-language media.