UK charges two men over alleged Iran-linked plot targeting RAF Fairford air base

British prosecutors have charged two men with national security offences linked to an alleged Iran-backed plot involving RAF Fairford, the air base in Gloucestershire from which US forces launched strikes on Iran. The Crown Prosecution Service announced the charges on Tuesday.

Both defendants are 24-year-old British nationals living in London. According to CBS News, Mohmed Abdulkarim is accused under the National Security Act 2023 of assisting a foreign intelligence service, as well as of behaviour likely to materially help such a service carry out activities relating to the UK. CNBC reported that prosecutors place the alleged conduct between 31 August and 28 September, and that the foreign country was not named in the CPS announcement.

The second man, Nouman Essghir, is charged with approaching a prohibited site with a purpose that prosecutors say was harmful to British safety or interests. The Guardian reported that he was first arrested at the scene on 27 September and detained again on 20 October. Both men were due before Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday.

Iran named by police

Counter Terrorism Policing said it believes the intelligence service in question is Iran’s, the Guardian reported. Laurence Taylor, the head of national counter-terrorism policing, said officers had seen a number of incidents in recent months that they believe were directed by the Iranian state, and he urged the public to report anything worrying.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told lawmakers earlier this month that the episode was “highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard,” CNBC reported. Tehran denies any role, and its embassy in London has said it “categorically rejects” what it called unfounded and malicious speculation.

The incident at the base

CBS News said armed officers and bomb-disposal specialists combed the area around the base on 27 September, and residents of a nearby town were evacuated. Searchers found petrol in three vans parked close to a base entrance, but no explosives. CNBC dated the initial arrests to 28 September.

After the arrests, President Donald Trump said the United States had moved its long-range bombers out of Britain because of a threat “linked to Iran.” CBS reported that the US Air Force withdrew all its B-1 bombers from Fairford, which had long hosted American heavy bombers and was used in the war with Iran. CNBC noted that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned over the summer that any base used to launch attacks on Iran would be treated as a legitimate target.

What happens next

The inquiry is not over. A 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national, arrested on 1 October and again on 20 October on suspicion of aiding Iran’s intelligence service, was released without charge but remains on police bail, the Guardian said. Other men detained during the investigation are also on bail and under investigation, according to the outlets, although CBS and the Guardian differ on how many.

Frank Ferguson, a senior prosecutor in the CPS counter-terrorism division, said the case was a complex one and that prosecutors would keep working closely with their partners. Whether further charges will follow has not been stated.