LONDON (AP) — An alleged plot to attack a American military airbase in England was ‘almost certainly’ led by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday.
Burnham previously said there were strong indications that Iran was linked to last month’s apparent attack plan. RAF Fairford air base, which was used by American bombers to strike Iran in the ongoing war.
Police have arrested seven men as part of 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 any involvement, although it has previously said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.
“I can confirm our assessment that it is very likely that this was coordinated in Iran, almost certainly led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Burnham told lawmakers. “We will not tolerate these threats on our soil.”
Police found gasoline but no explosives in suspects’ vehicles
Many residents near the airbase were evacuated from their homes on September 27 as armed police and army bomb disposal experts swarmed the rural area.
Police later said they found a quantity of accelerant – gasoline – in three vans linked to the first five suspects arrested at the scene, but no explosives.
All the arrested suspects are aged around 20 years old. None have been identified, although police said six were British nationals and one had dual British and Iranian nationality.
On Monday, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador, who reiterated that Tehran was not involved in the alleged plot and urged the UK to provide evidence to support its claims.
The United Kingdom also said it had added two Iranians, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence operations, to its sanctions list. Authorities said the two men were involved in espionage and attacks on behalf of the Iranian government in Europe and the United States.
United States withdrew its bombers last week from RAF Fairford, about 100 miles west of London, and the planes have now been redeployed to their original bases, the Pentagon said.
The Trump administration has said it believes the base is facing Iranian threats to kill as many U.S. troops and destroy as many U.S. aircraft as possible.
The British government has authorized the US military to use RAF Fairford for what it calls defensive strikes against Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on British interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.
US joins many Western countries in condemning Iranian proxy attacks
Officials said local proxies linked to Iran were behind a series of arsons and other attacks on the country. WE, Great Britain and other countries, many of which target Jewish communities and intended to sow fear.
British officials said the number of national security cases involving activities by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said Monday that the incident at Fairford Air Force Base “is indicative of a broader trend.”
“States like Iran use proxies to carry out hostile activities 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 on Monday, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, the United States and around twenty Western countries condemned the Iranian attacks on their territory. They said the Fairford incident demonstrated “Iran’s continued willingness to project hostile activities beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors.”
“Anyone who carries out 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.
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