London sanctions Tehran over Fairford airbase incident

The United Kingdom’s prime minister, Andy Burnham, has said that a suspected plot against a Royal Air Force base used by the U.S. in Fairford was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The allegation on Monday came as the UK announced sanctions on two Iranians over alleged “hostile activity”, raising the diplomatic stakes over the largely unexplained incident for which Tehran has denied any responsibility.

“We will not tolerate these threats on our soil,” Burnham said, promising that the government “will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams”.

He added that the UK will “bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to do us harm”.

The incident near the airbase in southern England occurred in the early hours of September 27, when five British men in their 20s were arrested on suspected “terrorism” and explosives offences. Police said they found a supply of petrol in three vans linked to the suspects, but no explosives. The men were later released without charge on police bail “under stringent conditions”. Two others were arrested later, including a British-Iranian national, but were later released.

British foreign minister Ed Miliband said he had ⁠summoned the ​Iranian ambassador while the ministry announced two Iranian nationals had been sanctioned.

The two men were Ruhollah Bazghandi, ​who Britain said was the IRGC's head of counterespionage operations, and Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, a facilitator for the already sanctioned Zindashti criminal network which is accused of involvement in several ​plots against Iranian dissidents.