UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs on Monday that a suspected plot against RAF Fairford was highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran.
Mr Burnham told the House of Commons the plot was almost certainly directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Reuters.
He described the finding as an assessment. His words, "highly likely" and "almost certainly", are statements of probability rather than confirmed fact. Reuters reported that details of the alleged plot remained thin and that nobody had been charged.
Five British men were arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the early hours of 27 September on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offences, according to Reuters and AFP.
Reuters, as carried by the Times of Israel, reported that police found petrol but no viable explosives in vans seized with the men.
The five men were released on bail without charge. Two other men, one of them a British-Iranian national, were also arrested and later released, Reuters reported. The police investigation continues.
Unnamed US officials told Reuters there had been a suspected plot involving Iran to launch a drone attack. Reuters did not name the officials, and their account has not been independently confirmed.
US President Donald Trump said a threat linked to Iran led to the decision to withdraw US bombers from the base, according to Reuters.
Mr Burnham promised action against Iran. He said: "We will not tolerate these threats on our soil."
He also said the government would act against Iran's use of criminal networks, using its full range of powers to target them and their funding streams. He promised further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to cause harm to the UK.
Iran rejected the allegation. Reuters reported that Tehran described the claims as "unfounded and malicious speculations". The brief available to this newsroom did not name the Iranian official who made that remark.
Iran's Ambassador to Britain, Seyed Ali Mousavi, said, according to state news agency IRNA, that Tehran had had no involvement in the matter. He said that if the British government had documents or evidence to support its claims, it should present them.
A joint statement from 29 countries condemned Iran's use of violent attacks and recognised the UK attribution, according to AFP and the Times of Israel.
Iran summoned British Ambassador Hugo Shorter to its Foreign Ministry in Tehran on Tuesday, according to IRNA as cited by Israel National News.
That report said the meeting was called by Alireza Yousefi, an assistant foreign minister who heads the ministry's Western Europe department. Iran International reported in a headline that Iran had threatened to reconsider its ties with the UK.
Neither the full IRNA report nor the full Iran International article could be reviewed for this report. No response from the British government to the summons had been reported.
RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, in south-west England. It is operated by the US Air Force and serves as a forward base for US B-52, B-1 and B-2 bombers.
Reuters said US bombers had used the base for strikes on Iran. Reuters and AFP both place the incident in the context of the war involving Iran.
The IRGC is Iran's ideologically based military force. The UK has been moving against it through sanctions, and Mr Burnham said more would follow.
The UK has not published evidence for its assessment, and Iran has asked for it to do so. No charges had been brought in connection with the arrests at the time of the reports.
Mr Burnham's promised sanctions on Iran and the IRGC are expected next. Iran's threat to reconsider relations with the UK, as reported by Iran International, has not been followed by any reported British reply.
Photo: Senior Airman Ryan Hayman / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
