Iran Dismisses UK Claims of Involvement in RAF Fairford 'Terror Plot'

Iran has strongly denied allegations of involvement in a suspected terror plot near the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fairford in Gloucestershire. The denial comes after Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated there were "strong indications" that Iran played a part in the incident.

Five British men were arrested on suspicion of explosives offenses and terrorism near the base on Sunday and were later bailed. The RAF Fairford base has been used by U.S. bombers for air strikes against Iran in recent months, making its potential involvement a focus of the ongoing police investigation. Investigators are considering Iran's past use of proxies for operations in Britain.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, criticized the bail of the suspects, stating on X (formerly Twitter) that the UK government's belief in Iran's involvement was misplaced. "I can confirm Iran's belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all. You're barking up the wrong tree," Araghchi wrote. The Iranian embassy in London has also vehemently denied any connection to the incident.

Burnham told GB News that while the investigation is ongoing, "there are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend." He confirmed that a COBRA meeting had been held and that authorities were managing the situation closely.

However, head of UK counter-terrorism policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, confirmed that while a quantity of accelerant, specifically petrol, was found in the three vans, no improvised explosive devices were discovered. The vehicles were examined by a police robot after being discovered blocking a road near the base.

Investigators noted several details that raised suspicions about the vans. One van bore the branding "Fuel 2You" in red text, which appeared to be a fake company. The phone number listed on the van used a spacing format common in Iran, and the red color of the logo was noted as unusual for a fuel supplier in the UK, where petrol pumps are typically green, whereas red is used in Iran. It has also emerged that one of the five arrested men contacted the police approximately an hour before a farmer reported the suspicious vans.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the suspected plot "clearly involves the hand of a foreign actor," though he did not provide further details. Former President Donald Trump also suggested the incident "might be" linked to Iran.

In July, Iran's Revolutionary Guard had warned that any base used for strikes against its country would be considered a legitimate target. The Iranian ambassador to London had previously stated that the use of RAF Fairford by American bombers was a matter of "self-defence" for Iran.