Terror Plot at UK Airbase ‘Almost Certainly’ Directed by Iran, British PM Says

Last month’s suspected terror plot at RAF Fairford, an airbase shared with the United States in England, was likely coordinated and directed by Iran’s ruling regime, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Oct. 12.

“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 [IRGC],” Burnham told lawmakers.

Burnham said investigators were in close contact with the United States about protective security at shared military bases in the UK and were continuing to investigate the case.

Seven suspects, all in their 20s, were arrested on terror and explosives charges for their alleged involvement in the RAF Fairford incident on Sept. 27.

Police responded to local tips about suspicious activity near the facility in Gloucestershire, England. Officers stopped three vans heading toward the airbase used by American forces to launch strikes against Iran.

Police and military explosive disposal teams searched the vehicles and found gasoline inside but no explosives, investigators said.

The Pentagon has since removed its heavy bombers from the base. The men have been released from custody and have not been formally charged.

In another incident, two Latvian men were arrested on espionage charges on Oct. 7 after they allegedly broke into the RAF Molesworth airbase, used by U.S. and NATO intelligence teams, near London.

Burnham didn’t say whether the two airbase incidents were linked, but he vowed to investigate any future threats from Iran.

“We will not tolerate these threats on our soil,” 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.”

The United States and the UK joined 27 other countries to “condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s use of violent attacks, including the acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities” against the countries and their partners.

“We recognize the United Kingdom’s attribution of Iran’s involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford on 27 September,” the countries said in a joint statement after Burnham’s announcement. “The UK has also concluded this event demonstrates the IRGC’s continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors.”

The nations vowed to “investigate, disrupt, and prosecute” all attempts to “silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people through proxies or other means.”

“Iran should be in no doubt that we are united and remain committed to safeguarding our sovereignty and strengthening our international coordination, bolstering our national resilience, protecting our communities, and ensuring that those responsible are held to account,” the countries stated.

The alleged attempted terror attack comes after recent attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists, and U.S. interests. The pro-Iranian Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) claimed to have instigated the attacks, according to state officials.

The incidents included a March 9 attack using a homemade explosive at a synagogue in Liège, Belgium; attacks against Jewish institutions in the Netherlands targeting a synagogue on March 13, 14, and 15; and a foiled bomb plot against a Bank of America branch in Paris on March 28.

The United States and other countries called for the HAYI attacks to end earlier this month, saying the relationship between Iranian security services and international and local criminal groups was long-standing.

“Attempts to kill, kidnap, harass, intimidate, or otherwise attack people on our soil, [undermine] national sovereignty and international norms. These actions must stop immediately,” the countries stated on Oct. 6.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of British Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The Epoch Times regrets the error.