Britain blames Iran's Guards for RAF Fairford plot, Tehran denies link

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). Tehran rejected any connection.

“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,” Burnham told parliament, The Express Tribune reported, citing Reuters.

Iran: “present the evidence”

Iran’s ambassador to Britain, Seyed Ali Mousavi, said: “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,” according to the state news agency IRNA.

Details of the suspected plot remain thin. Five British men arrested near the base on September 27 on suspected terrorism and explosives offences were later released without charge on police bail “under stringent conditions”, and two others, including a British-Iranian national, were also released. Detectives said petrol, but no viable explosive, was found in vans seized with the five men.

The base in southwest England had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran. US officials have told Reuters there was a suspected Iran-linked plot to launch a drone attack, and Trump said last week that a threat linked to Iran had led to the bombers being withdrawn.

London’s response

• Sanctions: Britain sanctioned two Iranian nationals, Ruhollah Bazghandi, whom it described as the IRGC’s head of counterespionage, and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, whom it called a facilitator for the Zindashti criminal network
• Ambassador summoned: Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned Iran’s envoy
• Joint statement: foreign ministries of almost 30 countries, including the US, Canada, France and Germany, condemned what they called Iran’s use of plotting, arson, sabotage and cyberattacks against them

Interior minister Shabana Mahmood told parliament that a known individual based in Iran, whom she did not name, was believed to be behind the plot. Iran has repeatedly denied British accusations of plots on its soil.

Trump: China and Russia not helping Iran

Separately, President Donald Trump said he did not believe China and Russia were helping Iran. “If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all,” he wrote on Truth Social. “They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast!”

In July, Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had told him Beijing would not “under any circumstances” sell weapons to Iran, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had given a similar assurance. Beijing denies that Chinese entities have aided Iran’s military.

Tanker hit in Hormuz

In the Gulf, the IRGC’s navy said it had hit a supertanker in the Strait of Hormuz that tried to cross “by disabling its transponders” and “by ignoring warnings”, setting it on fire, ARY News reported. Britain’s maritime security agency UKMTO reported four separate incidents of vessels being hit in the strait the day before.

Why it matters

The war began when the US and Israel struck Iran on February 28. A memorandum of understanding signed in June after Pakistani and Qatari mediation has since stalled. Every new accusation and every new attack in Hormuz makes it harder to revive that diplomacy, which Pakistan has worked hard to keep alive. Read our reports on the RAF Fairford bomb scare and on the US-Iran talks on Hormuz.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune, Reuters and ARY News.