Iran Rejects UK Accusations Over Fairford Airbase, Calls It a 'False Flag'

Tehran, Iran – Iran's Foreign Ministry has condemned the United Kingdom for attributing an alleged plot against a military airbase in the town of Fairford to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tehran views the move as part of a broader Western campaign.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament that the suspected plot last month against the Royal Air Force base was "very likely coordinated from Iran" and "almost certainly directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps." Burnham pledged action against the "criminal networks" allegedly linked to Iran and their funding networks.

Britain also announced sanctions targeting two Iranian nationals over alleged "hostile activity" at RAF Fairford in southern England.

The development follows an incident around the base — home to US military aircraft — in the early hours of September 27. Five British men in their twenties were arrested on suspicion of "terrorism" and explosives-related offenses. They were not charged and were released on bail pending investigation. Two other men were also arrested and later released.

Details of the suspected security threat to RAF Fairford and related developments remain unclear.

In a statement Monday evening, Iran's Foreign Ministry described Britain's allegations about Tehran's role as "an ugly plot," saying it was also aimed at "evading responsibility for Britain's participation" in the ongoing war against Iran on February 28.

The ministry said Britain had not provided sufficient evidence to back its claims and rejected the accusation of Iranian involvement, calling it "a clumsy false-flag operation."

"Britain's record of fabricating security accusations against other nations, which in some cases has led to disastrous tensions and conflict in West Asia, is all too clear," Iran's Foreign Ministry said, without elaborating.

British Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said investigators assessed the coordinator to be a known individual based in Iran, though she did not name the person or release communications, financial records, or other intelligence underpinning the assessment.

RAF Fairford is a key base for US aircraft that took part in the war against Iran, which began on February 28 after US and Israeli airstrikes killed several Iranian leaders and officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After news of the incident spread, the US withdrew about a dozen B-1 bombers from Fairford. US media, citing unnamed sources, said intelligence indicated the bombers could face the risk of attack by small drones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said publicly in early October that his government had warned Britain about a plot. "We provided the British with intelligence that there would be an attack, and it was an Iran-sponsored attack, and almost the next day they imposed sanctions on us," he said in an interview with Fox News. Netanyahu made the comment while criticizing British measures in response to Israel's expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank amid diplomatic tensions.

Earlier this month, Tehran grouped the Fairford incident with allegations related to the Flydubai cockpit attack — which UAE authorities said was a "suicide" mission aimed at crashing a plane into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

"I think even a schoolchild can see how amateurishly it was staged," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said of the aircraft incident.

He also argued that such incidents are being fabricated to assign blame and justify a war that faces public opposition in the US and elsewhere.

IRNA, Iran's official government news agency, argued in an analysis last week that a Western-led vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors to refer Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council could be classified as another effort to pressure Iran into submitting to US demands.

The agency said increased reports in recent weeks attributing to Tehran a primary role and responsibility for significant battlefield advances by the Houthis in Yemen point to "a plan to designate Iran as the main cause of insecurity" at the regional and global level.

"The chain of suspicious recent incidents, which the US president and senior officials have attributed to Iran without providing any evidence, appears to be a coordinated wave to smear Iran," IRNA said.

Nevertheless, British officials continued to roll out measures against Iran in response to the Fairford incident. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned Iran's ambassador and sanctioned one person identified as the head of the IRGC's counterintelligence department, along with another described as a facilitator for a criminal network. The measures include asset freezes and travel bans. However, the two named men were not clearly identified as the organizers of the Fairford incident.

The British government in July listed the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization. On Friday, Britain was among 32 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the US, that "strongly condemned Iran's use of violent attacks, including lethal plots, arson, sabotage, cyberattacks, and other hybrid activities against us and our partners."

"We note the United Kingdom's attribution to Iran for the September 27 incident at RAF Fairford. The UK also assesses that this incident demonstrates the IRGC's continued willingness to conduct hostile operations beyond its borders through clandestine networks and proxy actors," they said in a joint statement.