2 men charged in UK with helping Iran over air force base incident

⁠Two men were charged ⁠on Tuesday under Britain’s National Security Act ⁠following last month’s security incident at the RAF Fairford military base, with prosecutors accusing one of them of trying to assist Iranian intelligence operations in Britain.

RAF Fairford had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, but they were withdrawn ‌on security grounds shortly after five British men were arrested outside the base in southwest England in the early hours of September 27.

The circumstances of the incident, which remain largely unexplained, attracted huge international attention, coming at a time of heightened concern about the security implications for Western states of the war between the United States and Iran.

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

British national Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, was charged with engaging in conduct that was likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service ‌between August 31 and September 28, with police saying the country is believed to ⁠be Iran.

Nouman Essghir, ⁠a 24-year-old dual British-Iranian national who was first arrested outside RAF Fairford on September 27, was charged with one offence of ‌entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK on August 22.

The pair will appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court later ‌on ‌Tuesday.

Police said that six other people, four of whom are British nationals who were arrested outside ‌RAF Fairford on September 27, remained on police bail.

The decision to bail suspects after an apparent major incident ⁠had drawn scrutiny, but on Tuesday police said that decision had helped secure charges against the ⁠two men.

“We know the decisions made during our investigations can sometimes appear illogical to those on the outside, but I want to make it very clear that there will always ‌be a good reason ‌or rationale behind them,” said Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK.

“In this case, this decision-making has led to swifter progress, better evidence, and ultimately us securing the charges that I have announced today.”