Britain accuses Iran of plotting the airbase and embargoing two Iranian citizens

Iran's ambassador tells British officials that Tehran is willing to help with the investigation and reiterates its denial of involvement in the investigation.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that a suspected plot to target the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fairford was "almost certainly" led by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), raising diplomatic stakes over the largely unexplained incident for which Tehran has denied any responsibility.

"We will not tolerate these threats on our soil," Burnham told parliament on Monday, adding that the government "will crack down on Iran's use of criminal networks and use a wide range of powers to target them and their financial flows."

He said: "We will impose more sanctions to limit the capacity of Iran and IRGC to harm us."

The incident happened near an airbase in southern England in the early hours of September 27, when five British men in their 20s were arrested on charges of "terrorism" and explosives offences.

Police said they found a source of gasoline in three vans linked to the suspects, but no explosives.

They were later released without charge on "conditional" police bail. Last week, counter-terrorism police arrested a 22-year-old British national on suspicion of a "terrorist" offense in connection with the security incident. Earlier this month, a 25-year-old British-Iranian man was arrested in London.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement on X that Britain was sanctioning two Iranians for "their role in facilitating or participating in hostile activities on behalf of the Iranian regime," without identifying them.

He said: We have repeatedly announced to Iran that England will not tolerate threats on our soil.

This action took place while 29 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, most European countries, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, issued a joint statement on Monday and held Iran responsible for the infiltration attempt.

"Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm or coerce people in our lands through proxies or any other means is unacceptable," the statement said.

On Monday, Ali Mousavi, Iran's ambassador to the UK, met with Stephen Doughty, the Middle East minister in the UK, and "categorically rejected" the accusations of any Iranian role and asked the "British side to refrain from any unsubstantiated statements".

Ambassador Arjan reported that Mousavi told British officials that Tehran is willing to cooperate in the investigation of this incident.

Iran's embassy in London issued a statement last month saying Iran "strongly rejects and strongly condemns the recent baseless and malicious speculation" that attempts to link the country to the arrests, adding that it fuels "Iranophobic propaganda."

The United States withdrew its B-52 and B-1 bombers from the base earlier this month.

RAF Fairford has served as a staging point for US bombers participating in the war against Iran, which began more than seven months ago on February 28.

RAF Fairford, located approximately 160 kilometers (100 mi) west of London, is the preferred European base for US bombers. According to US officials, the withdrawal was due to concerns about Iran's suspected plot to launch a sophisticated drone attack on the facility.