ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two men were charged with national security offenses in Britain on Tuesday over an incident near RAF Fairford, with police saying they believe Iran was the foreign state behind the alleged operation.
Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, while Nouman Essghir, 24, was charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Both appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said police believe the foreign intelligence service involved in Abdulkarim’s case is Iran.
The investigation is examining activity near the Gloucestershire airbase on September 27, when five men were arrested after reports of suspicious vehicles.
Court proceedings heard that a handler known as “Ali,” whom prosecutors believe was acting in the interests of the Iranian state, allegedly directed the group to take vans containing petrol to the base.
Prosecutor Louise Gray told Westminster Magistrates' Court that one of the suspects called police after the group received a message warning “that there was a bomb in the vehicles,” The Washington Post reported.
However, UK Counter Terrorism Policing said investigators found no improvised explosive devices in the vehicles, but recovered “a quantity of petrol” after examining them with military and forensic experts.
Prosecutors allege that Abdulkarim helped the handler by purchasing equipment for the operation and received payments totaling around £70,000. Essghir’s charge relates to an alleged reconnaissance mission near a prohibited site on August 22, according to the CPS. The allegations have not been proven in court.
The case comes amid wider British concerns about alleged Iranian state activity abroad.
In mid-October, the UK and dozens of partner countries issued a joint statement recognizing Britain’s attribution of Iranian involvement in the Fairford incident and condemning what they described as Iran’s use of covert networks and proxy actors.
The CPS said the proceedings are active and stressed that both men are entitled to a fair trial. It said the charges are not findings of guilt.
In a statement on September 28, the Iranian Embassy in London rejected allegations linking Tehran to the RAF Fairford incident, describing them as “baseless and biased speculation” as cited by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
The case comes amid wider British concerns over alleged Iranian state-linked activity. The UK government said Britain had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots “presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents” since January 2022.
