UK prosecutors charge two after RAF Fairford incident

British prosecutors say they ⁠⁠have charged two men with ‌‌offences under the National Security Act following an incident ⁠⁠in September ⁠⁠at RAF Fairford, an ⁠⁠airbase in England used ⁠⁠by ⁠⁠the United States.

British-Iranian dual national Mohmed Abdulkarim and British citizen Nouman Essghir, both age 24, were charged under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said. They are due to appear in court later Tuesday.

Abdulkarim is charged with assisting Iran’s intelligence service and Essghir with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.

The airbase in Gloucestershire, southwest England, had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes in the US-Israeli war on Iran this year.

Essghir was arrested outside the base on September 27, when armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Dozens of residents were evacuated from their homes as police and army bomb-disposal experts searched for explosives.

Abdulkarim was arrested in the past week. Six other men have been arrested and released on bail as investigations continue.

Shortly after the incident at the base, US B-1 bombers were withdrawn from the site.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence ‌Taylor, Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK, said police believed ‌the country ‌Abdulkarim was assisting was Iran.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week said that the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been coordinated in Iran, which Iran’s ambassador to Britain has denied.

Last year Britain said there had been 20 credible Iranian-backed threats to kill or kidnap individuals based in the UK.

In July, Britain used new powers to ban support for the IRGC and a linked group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), which had claimed responsibility for seven attacks earlier this year at locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, and Persian-language media.