UK ‘barking up wrong tree’ over airbase claims – Iran
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected claims by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham that Tehran is linked to the recent security scare near the RAF Fairford airbase in southwestern England.
Police arrested five men on Sunday near the military facility that hosts US bombers used in missions against Iran. The suspects turned out to be British citizens in their early 20s and were released on bail the following day.
“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” Burnham told the BBC on Wednesday, marking the first time UK authorities have publicly linked the incident to a foreign actor.
He declined to provide further details, promising to “say more in due course.”
PM Burnham says the UK Government "can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part" in the RAF Fairford incident.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) September 30, 2026
I can confirm Iran's belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all.
You're barking up the wrong tree.
Araghchi responded to Burnham’s claims on social media.
“I can confirm Iran’s belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all. You’re barking up the wrong tree,” he wrote on X.
The Iranian Embassy in London earlier issued a statement strongly denying any involvement in the incident near RAF Fairford and accused the UK government of peddling “Iranophobia.”
Burnham also defended the decision to release the suspects, which had been questioned by US President Donald Trump, insisting that the men were subject to the “strictest possible bail conditions.”
The American leader claimed the suspects were known to the law enforcement.
”I would have said, ‘Don’t let them have bail.’ I’m surprised that they released them. I wouldn’t have done that,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
The case has fueled much speculation in Western media, including theories that Russia or unspecified Islamist extremists may have been behind the incident. Police initially believed the suspects illegally held explosives, but none were found in three vans found in the vicinity of the base.
In another twist, the BBC reported on Wednesday that one of the five suspects had called the police himself shortly before the arrests – and about an hour before local residents alerted authorities to suspicious vehicles near the base. According to the Daily Mail, masked men reported by locals in the woods were apparently armed police responding to the initial tip.
