Suspected plot at US-run air base almost certainly directed by Iran, UK prime minister says

LONDON (AP) — A suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run military air base in England was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday. Burnham previously said there are strong indications Iran was linked to the apparent plan last month to attack the RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran in the ongoing war. Police have arrested seven men in the investigation into the alleged plot, but all suspects have been released on bail and no one has been charged so far.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target. “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 lawmakers. "We will not tolerate these threats on our soil.” Police found gasoline but no explosives in the suspects' vehicles Scores of residents near the air base were evacuated from their homes on Sept. 27 as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area.

Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans linked to the initial five suspects who were arrested on the scene, but no explosives. All the suspects arrested are in their 20s. None has been identified, though police said six are British nationals while one is a dual U.K.-Iranian citizen. On Monday, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador, who reiterated that Tehran was not involved in the suspected plot and urged the U.K. to provide evidence supporting its claims.

The U.K. also said it added two Iranians, including the head of counterespionage operations in the Revolutionary Guard, to its sanctions list. Authorities said the two were involved in conducting espionage and attacks on behalf of Iran’s government in Europe and the U.S. The U.S. pulled its bombers last week from RAF Fairford, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, and the aircraft have now been redeployed to their home bases, the Pentagon said.

The Trump administration has said it believed the base faced Iranian threats intended to kill as many American troops and destroy as many U.S. planes as possible. The British government allowed the U.S. military to use RAF Fairford for what it called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf. US joins many Western countries in condemning Iranian proxy attacks Officials have said that local proxies linked to Iran were behind a string of arson and other attacks on the U.S., Britain and other countries, many of them targeting Jewish communities and intended to sow fear.

British officials have said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Monday that the Fairford air base incident “speaks to a wider trend.” “States like Iran are using proxies to conduct hostile activity here in Britain. They pay criminals or exploit naive volunteers, attacking our country and its citizens while maintaining an air of plausible deniability,” she said.

In a joint statement released Monday, the foreign ministers of the U.K., U.S. and about two dozen Western countries condemned Iranian attacks on their territory. They said the Fairford incident demonstrated Iran's “continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors.” “Anyone who conducts hostile activities on behalf of Iran, or any other state, should know that we will take action to identify, investigate, disrupt, and prosecute these acts,” the statement said.