Published On 12 Oct 202612 Oct 2026<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that a suspected plot targeting Royal Air Force (RAF) base Fairford was \u201calmost certainly\u201d directed by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), raising the diplomatic stakes over the largely unexplained incident for which Tehran has denied any responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not tolerate these threats on our soil,\u201d Burnham told parliament on Monday, adding that the government, \u201cwill crack down on Iran\u2019s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to do us harm\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
The incident near the airbase in southern England occurred in the early hours of September 27 when five British men<\/a> in their 20s were arrested on suspected \u201cterrorism\u201d and explosives offences.<\/p>\n Police said they found a supply of petrol in three vans linked to the suspects, but no explosives.<\/p>\n They were later released without charge on \u200c\u200c\u200c\u200cpolice \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2060bail \u201cunder stringent conditions\u201d. Last week, Counter Terrorism Policing arrested a 22-year-old British national on suspicion of a \u201cterror\u201d offence linked to the security incident. Earlier this month, a 25-year-old British-Iranian man was arrested in London.<\/p>\n In a statement on X, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain was sanctioning two Iranians for their \u201crole in facilitating or engaging in hostile activity on behalf of the Iranian regime\u201d, without specifying their identity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have repeatedly made clear to Iran, Britain will not tolerate threats on our soil\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n The move came as 29 countries, including Britain, the US, most European states, Canada, Australia and New Zealand issued a joint statement on Monday blaming Iran for the attempted infiltration.<\/p>\n \u201cAny attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n \u2018Categorical rejection\u2019<\/p>\n On Monday, Ali Mousavi, Iran\u2019s ambassador to the UK, met Stephen Doughty, the UK\u2019s minister for the Middle East, and \u201ccategorically rejected\u201d allegations of any Iranian role while urging \u201cthe British side to refrain from any unsubstantiated statements\u201d.<\/p>\n Mousavi told British authorities that Tehran is willing to cooperate with the investigation into the incident<\/a>, Iran\u2019s \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2060\u2060\u2060\u2060\u2060state news agency IRNA reported.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s embassy in London issued a statement<\/a> last month saying Iran \u201ccategorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations\u201d attempting to link the country to the arrests, adding that it will \u201cfuel Iranophobia propaganda\u201d.<\/p>\n