Two charged over alleged plot to assist Iran in RAF Fairford incident

- Published

Two British nationals have been charged with national security offences over the incident at RAF Fairford in September, with one suspected of assisting Iran's intelligence service.

Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, 24, has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service after the incident near the airbase in Gloucestershire.

Nouman Essghir, also 24, has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK a month earlier on 22 August. Both men will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Three suspicious vans were seen near the US-operated airbase on 27 September.

No explosive materials were found in the vans by police but a quantity of petrol was seized. A huge cordon was put up around the base for several days afterwards.

Head of counter-terror police, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, said Essghir, a British national from Westminster, had been charged under Section 4 of the National Security Act 2023.

He was arrested at the scene near RAF Fairford on 27 September, and re-arrested on 20 October.

A 25-year-old UK-Iranian national who was also re-arrested on that date on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service has now been released without charge. He remains on police bail after his initial arrest on 1 October on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts.

The re-arrests in October led to detectives interviewing Abdulkarim.

Eight men have been arrested as part of the counter-terror police investigation. This includes five British nationals from London who were arrested near the airbase in September on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act before they were further arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act. Six men remain on police bail.

AC Taylor said counter-terror police had seen "a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state".

Iran has previously denied any involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford.

The base has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force (USAF) for decades.

In recent months, the US has flown B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base to the Middle East, after the UK approved a request for it to be used for defensive strikes against Iran.

After the incident in September the US pulled its bombers out of the base and returned them to America.

US President Donald Trump said the aircraft were removed due to "some threats" to the base, without giving specific details.