UK PM Says Strong Indications Iran Involved In Airbase Incident

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that there are "strong indications" Iran played a role in suspicious activity near RAF Fairford, a UK airbase used by the US military during its war against Iran.

"There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford," Burnham told the BBC, referring to a bomb scare near the airbase in southwest England on Sunday.

Burnham stressed that the investigation remained ongoing.

"Of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation," he said.

Iran's embassy in London has categorically rejected and strongly condemned speculation that Tehran was involved in the incident. Police said on Tuesday that no explosives were found at the scene. British authorities have not explained the nature of the threat.

The incident began in the early hours of Sunday, when three white vans appeared to be heading toward RAF Fairford. A local resident who contacted police said she had seen a group of masked men near the vehicles, which were blocking a road in a village next to the military base.

The case became more complicated after British police released on bail five British men arrested Sunday on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offenses.

After three days of investigation, including the deployment of a bomb disposal team, police said Tuesday that they had found no explosives in the vehicles. They said, however, that they had recovered a "quantity of petrol."

On Wednesday, The Times reported that the incident had been disrupted after one of the five suspects allegedly alerted police before the group was apprehended.

US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously indicated that intelligence agencies were aware of the suspects and that a foreign state could have been involved. UK officials had not previously publicly confirmed such a link.

"We have been waiting to confirm what we could say, but we can now confirm our belief that Iran played a part," Burnham told Sky News.

Speculation had grown that Iran or another hostile state could have been involved, particularly after Tehran had previously warned London against allowing its military bases to be used by Washington.

The UK had authorized the US to use RAF Fairford for defensive strikes against Iran, a decision that drew criticism from Tehran and concern among some residents in the Gloucestershire countryside surrounding the base.

Separately, Britain announced the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq, following the formal end of the coalition operation against ISIS. London said its security coordination with Baghdad and Erbil is entering a new bilateral phase, after British forces trained more than 111,000 Iraqi security personnel, including over 21,000 Peshmerga, during the past 10 years.

In a statement on Sept. 30, the UK Foreign Ministry said British troops and advisers serving within the international coalition had left Iraqi territory, citing the end of Operation Inherent Resolve and the military defeat of ISIS. Britain stressed that Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga are now capable of assuming primary responsibility for protecting the country's security.

The statement highlighted Britain's contribution through Operation Shader, which began in 2014. According to the figures, the Peshmerga received training in infantry skills, weapons repair, mine and improvised explosive device clearance, medical emergency response, and military engineering.

The statement added that Royal Air Force warplanes conducted thousands of sorties during that period and bombed more than 2,300 ISIS positions, alongside continuous intelligence and surveillance operations in support of ground forces.

According to the statement, the troop withdrawal does not mean an end to relations. Instead, the defense partnership between London and Baghdad is moving into a new bilateral phase shaped by Iraq's needs. The new cooperation will focus on countering terrorism, advancing military capability, cooperating in the defense industry, and dismantling ISIS's ideological propaganda.