Iran’s Revolutionary Guards ‘almost certainly directed’ RAF Fairford plot, says Burnham

• Burnham says Iran’s Revolutionary Guards “almost certainly directed” Fairford plot
• Iran denies involvement and demands evidence
• UK summons Iranian ambassador and sanctions IRGC counterespionage chief
• Seven people arrested over the incident released on bail; none charged

PRIME MINISTER Andy Burnham has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of directing last month’s security scare at RAF Fairford, the Gloucestershire airbase used by the United States for strikes on Iran.

Burnham told parliament on Monday that the incident on September 27 “is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard”.

“We will not tolerate these threats on our soil. We will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams,” he told MPs.

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Iran denied any involvement. Its state news agency IRNA said Iran’s ambassador in London, Ali Moussavi, had “categorically rejected the accusations” and called on the British government to present evidence “if it possesses any”.

Ambassador summoned, sanctions imposed

The Foreign Office said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador and designated two Iranian nationals for their alleged role in hostile activity on behalf of Tehran.

One of them, Ruhollah Bazghandi, the IRGC’s head of counterespionage operations, is “now subject to an immediate asset freeze, travel ban and director disqualification”, it said.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the two had acted “with the clear intent of threatening, planning or conducting attacks overseas”. The UK has already designated the IRGC under its new state threats powers.

29 countries condemn Iran

Shortly after Burnham’s statement, 29 countries, including the US, Australia, Canada, France and Germany, issued a joint statement condemning “in the strongest terms Iran’s use of violent attacks”, including “lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities”.

“Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable,” it said.

What happened at Fairford

Police were called to the area after a local farmer reported a group of men with several white vans engaged in “suspicious” activity. The incident was declared “major” and a nearby village was evacuated.

Investigators found no explosives in the vans but recovered some petrol, officials said.

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Seven people, including a British-Iranian national, were arrested in the days that followed. All have been released on bail and none has been charged.

The US withdrew all its B-1 bombers from Fairford last week. President Donald Trump said the move followed “threats” he believed were linked to Iran.

Britain gave the US permission in March to use the base for “specific defensive operations into Iran”.

(With inputs from agencies)