MI5 Chief Ken McCallum Says Iran Targets UK Military Sites, Including RAF Fairford Plot

MI5 flags Iran, Fairford

MI5 director general Ken McCallum said Iran is trying to hit military sites in the United Kingdom and that the suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run military air base in September is “not unique.”

McCallum told an annual Threats to Britain speech that Tehran is seeking to “step up its attacks inside Britain to go beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposing the Islamic regime.”

McCallum said the incident at RAF Fairford “is not unique. There have been other examples, not just in the U.K. but around the world,” as detectives investigate a suspected terror plot against the base in western England.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament that the suspected plot last month was “almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard,” and British authorities linked the incident to Iran after evacuations near the base on Sept. 27.

+1Burnham: coordinated in Iran7 of 8 outlets reported it · not in Prospect Magazine▾

British police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant, gasoline, in three vans at the site, but no explosives, as seven men in their 20s were arrested and released on bail.

Fairford arrests and petrol6 of 7 outlets reported it · not in Prospect Magazine▾

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Tehran calls it false flag

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the United Kingdom’s attribution of an alleged plot near RAF Fairford to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), calling it part of a greater Western effort. Iran’s ministry said the UK’s claims of an Iranian role were “an ugly plot” that would also serve to “evade accountability for Britain’s participation” in the ongoing war against Iran. British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said investigators assessed the coordinator to be a known individual based in Iran, while she did not name that person or disclose supporting communications, financial records or other intelligence.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations and said Britain had provided no concrete evidence, while it also described the British claims as a “sordid conspiracy.” Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that Iranian ambassador Sayed Ali Mousavi rejected once again the accusations and urged the British government to present the evidence and to refrain from statements not based on evidence.

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AI, hybrid threats, and arrests

McCallum warned that artificial intelligence could “change the stakes” on bioweapons and said MI5 has set up a new AI Threat Assessment Center to keep ahead of the risks. McCallum said MI5 has uncovered suspects using AI to improve reconnaissance and means of attack, including with AI-enabled drones, as he described the threat environment as a “new era of national security.” McCallum said state threats have quadrupled in the past decade and that MI5’s work countering state threats has quadrupled in the past decade, with Russia and Iran expanding hybrid warfare campaigns against the United Kingdom.

Hybrid war escalation2 of 3 outlets reported it · not in Infobae▾

McCallum said Iran-linked operations had led to “50 arrests in the last year,” and he said much of this Iranian aggression has been aimed at Jewish communities and also at “harder targets, like military sites.” The United States withdrew approximately a dozen B-1 bombers from the Fairford base after the incident, while the UK announced sanctions against two Iranian nationals over alleged “hostile activity” at RAF Fairford.

Reporting for this sectionBangkok PostAlbanian Daily News