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A suspected attack against RAF Fairford was “highly likely” to have been directed by Iran’s security force, the IRGC, prime minister Andy Burnham has said.
In an update to MPs in the Commons on Monday, Mr Burnham said: “I can confirm our assessment that it is highly likely to have been co-ordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.”
Five men were arrested close to the Gloucestershire airbase, which is used by the US, on Sunday 27 September. The suspects, who were British citizens from London in their 20s, were held over explosives and terrorism offences, but have since been released on bail.
US bombers depart RAF Fairford for home (Getty)
Mr Burnham added: “We will not tolerate these threats on our soil. 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 bring us harm”.
The US state department issued a statement endorsed by more than 20 countries on Monday condemning Iran for actions including “lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks” around the world.
Mr Burnham later told Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch: “We will continue to work with our US counterparts on RAF Fairford”.
Iran’s ambassador to the UK has also summoned to make clear that “Britain will not tolerate threats on our soil”, foreign secretary Ed Miliband also said.
Mr Miliband announced the designation of two Iranian nationals, named as head of counterespionage for the IRGC and a facilitator of plots against Iranian dissidents, for their “role in facilitating or engaging in hostile activity on behalf of the Iranian regime, with the clear intent of threatening, planning or conducting attacks overseas”.
The foreign secretary further discussed “holding Iran to account for its actions” in a call with US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Monday.
Reporting on the talks, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said: “They reiterated their shared commitment to safeguarding transit in the Strait of Hormuz and the importance of holding Iran to account for its actions and of continued collaboration to secure US assets in the United Kingdom.
“Secretary Rubio reaffirmed the value of our close partnership to stabilise global energy markets while also bringing the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end through a negotiated settlement.”
Andy Burnham gives an update on RAF Fairford to MPs on Monday (Parliament TV)
A joint statement issued on behalf of the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden on Monday condemned Iran’s actions across Europe.
They said the RAF Fairford incident “demonstrates the IRGC’s continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors”.
“This comes soon after the recent campaign of attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists, and US interests, claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI),” the statement added.
Last week, the US air force pulled its bombers from RAF Fairford and redeployed them back to their home bases in the US.
According to reports in the US media, the decision to remove the bombers was in response to renewed security concerns about the safety of the base in Gloucestershire.
Seven suspects have now been arrested by police investigating the suspected terror plot against RAF Fairford, and subsequently released under strict bail conditions.
Five men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act in Fairford (Reuters)
Three suspicious vans were stopped near the airbase on Sunday 27 September. No explosive materials were found in the vans, but a quantity of petrol was seized, police said.
In July, Britain used new powers designed to stop the use of state-sponsored proxies to ban support for the IRGC and a linked group accused of being behind attacks at locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, and Persian-language media.
The nations said “any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable”.
Roger Macmillan, security expert and former Head of Security at Iran International, said: “The prime minister says it is almost certain that Iran’s IRGC directed an attack on British soil. Today’s sanctioning of two men who live in Tehran is welcome, but it will not stop these attacks in the future. If the government believes what it is saying, it must bring forward the law to ban the IRGC and take stronger steps to resource the police and security services further to protect British subjects. Warning words are not enough.”
Lord Walney, chair of the APPG for Defending Democracy said: “The news that the RAF Fairford attack was directed by the terror-exporting IRGC shows why the must consider Iran a hostile regime that is implacably imposed to British interests.”
He added that it was a “grave mistake” for foreign secretary Ed Miliband to have shaken hands with the Iranian foreign minister in a meeting last month, saying it gave “the stamp of legitimacy to this terror exporting Islamist regime”.