Iran sees ‘false flag’ operations after UK blames IRGC for airbase incident

What the report says

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has rejected British accusations that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind an alleged plot targeting RAF Fairford, a military airbase in Gloucestershire, England. The dispute follows UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s statement to Parliament that the suspected incident last month was highly likely coordinated from Iran and almost certainly directed by the IRGC. London responded with sanctions on two Iranian nationals and said investigators believed a known person based in Iran had coordinated the activity.

According to the Al Jazeera report, the alleged threat centered on events around the base in the early hours of September 27, when several British men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offences and later released on bail. Another two men were also detained and released. The article says the details of the case remain unclear, and UK officials have not publicly provided the underlying evidence they say supports their attribution.

Tehran described the British account as an unfounded “false flag” claim and argued that it was part of a wider Western effort to blame Iran for regional and international security problems. Al Jazeera notes that the UK has continued to tighten pressure on Iran, including designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization in July and joining a 32-country statement condemning Iranian hybrid threats.

The incident matters because RAF Fairford hosts US military aircraft, and tensions around the base come amid broader disputes involving Iran, Western sanctions, and the conflict tied to US and Israeli strikes earlier this year, as described in the report.