Two men charged in UK with helping Iran over RAF Fairford incident

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Two men were charged under the National Security Act on Tuesday over last month's incident at the RAF Fairford military base, with prosecutors accusing a British national of trying to help Iranian intelligence in Britain. RAF Fairford had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, but they were withdrawn on security grounds shortly after five British men were arrested outside the base in southwest England in the early hours of September 27.

British national Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, was charged with engaging in conduct that was likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service between August 31 and September 28, with police saying the country is believed to be Iran. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said earlier this month that the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been coordinated in Iran, which Iran's ambassador to Britain has denied. Nouman Essghir, a 24-year-old dual British-Iranian national who was first arrested outside RAF Fairford on September 27, was charged with one offence of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK on August 22.

The pair will appear at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court later on Tuesday. Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK, said in a statement: "We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state and, as the Director General of MI5 said just the other week, we are working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat."

Police said that six other people, four of whom are British nationals who were arrested outside RAF Fairford on September 2027, remain on police bail. (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti and Sam Tobin; Editing by Kate Holton)