Suspected plot at US-run air base almost certainly directed by Iran, UK
prime minister says
[October 13, 2026]
By SYLVIA HUI
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.
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British Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks at the Labour Party
Conference, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
(Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
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.
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