---
title: "Burnham names Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as the hand behind the Fairford plot"
description: "London sanctions an IRGC counterespionage chief and a crime-network fixer. Tehran denies any role and offers to help the investigation"
author: "Jan Sokol"
published: 2026-10-12T18:51:18Z
modified: 2026-10-13T04:05:55Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/burnham-names-iran-s-revolutionary-guard-as-the-hand-behind--2af20c
language: en
tags: ["iran", "uk", "security", "sanctions", "raffairford", "europe", "mideast"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Burnham names Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as the hand behind the Fairford plot

*London sanctions an IRGC counterespionage chief and a crime-network fixer. Tehran denies any role and offers to help the investigation*

By Jan Sokol · October 12, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/burnham-names-iran-s-revolutionary-guard-as-the-hand-behind--2af20c

## In brief

- PM Andy Burnham told MPs the RAF Fairford plot was almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
- Seven people were arrested after the 27 September incident and all were released. Petrol but no explosives was found in three vans
- Britain sanctioned IRGC counterespionage head Ruhollah Bazghandi and Zindashti network facilitator Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki
- Iran’s ambassador Seyed Ali Mousavi rejected any Iranian role and said Tehran was willing to help the investigation
- About 29 countries, including the US, signed a joint declaration backing Britain and condemning Iranian violent and hybrid attacks

For two weeks the British government had said only that it suspected Tehran. On Monday, 12 October, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the House of Commons who it now believed was responsible. As [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/12/uk-blames-iran-for-airbase-plot-sanctions-two-iranian-nationals), Burnham said the suspected plot against RAF Fairford, the Royal Air Force base in Gloucestershire that the United States uses, was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also said it was highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran. On the same day Britain imposed sanctions on two Iranians over what it called “hostile activity”, and Tehran’s denial followed within hours.

Intelligence has its own vocabulary of certainty and moves through it one careful step at a time. At the end of September the government spoke of [“strong indications” of an Iranian link](https://rews.cc/a/britain-says-strong-indications-link-iran-to-scare-at-u-s-us-844cec). Now the official word is “almost certainly”. In between, as far as the public record shows, nobody has been charged.

## Petrol in three vans

The incident happened in the early hours of 27 September near Fairford, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of London. The base is the preferred European home for American bombers and has been a staging point in the war on Iran, which began on 28 February. Police found petrol in three vans linked to the suspects. They found no explosives.

![Three white vans and a yellow fuel can sit outside a barbed-wire airport fence, with a large airplane under floodlights at night.](https://rews.cc/img/8d8921499bc55803e35a9c6898a185e1e847dcb2.webp)

Five British men in their twenties were arrested on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offences and released without charge, on bail “under stringent conditions”. Two more people were arrested later, among them a British-Iranian national, and both were released too. The nature of the threat is still unclear. According to US officials, Washington moved its B-52 and B-1 bombers this month because it feared a complex Iranian drone attack. [The National reported](https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uk/2026/10/12/iran-smells-weakness-burnham-challenged-over-irgc-after-airbase-plot/) that the Americans gave mixed signals on whether they had intelligence of a drone plot or were simply being cautious. Either way, [the bombers left](https://rews.cc/a/twelve-b-1bs-leave-raf-fairford-ending-the-us-s-only-europea-cf3545).

## Two names

The government said the two men were being sanctioned for their “role in facilitating or engaging in hostile activity on behalf of the Iranian regime”.

The first is Ruhollah Bazghandi, who heads the IRGC’s counterespionage operations. He now faces an asset freeze, a travel ban and a bar on serving as a company director. The government believes he was directly involved in threatening, planning or carrying out attacks on Britain or its allies.

The second is Shahram Ali Reza Tamarzadeh Jakki, described as a facilitator for the Zindashti criminal network. Britain already has that network under sanctions, and it has been accused of plots against Iranian dissidents abroad.

Taken together, the two names sketch a pattern that London has described before. A state service sets the aim and a criminal network supplies the hands, so that between the order and the act there are enough intermediaries to keep anyone from proving the link. Burnham’s response targeted that middle layer. The government, he said, “will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams”. He also promised to “bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to do us harm”.

![A collage shows one hand holding red string connecting two headless suit jackets while another hand holds large scissors poised to cut the string.](https://rews.cc/img/f830af388d7eb17578166beeff2bc76f83dff17b.webp)

There is a quiet irony in the tools. A ban on being a director of a British company is a modest weapon to use against the man who runs the Revolutionary Guard’s counterespionage. Governments often reach for whatever lies within the law’s reach, which is rarely the person they most want to reach.

## The ambassador’s answer

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned Iran’s ambassador, Seyed Ali Mousavi. “We have repeatedly made clear to Iran, Britain will not tolerate threats on our soil,” Miliband wrote on X. Mousavi met Stephen Doughty, the Middle East minister, “categorically rejected” any Iranian role, and urged London “to refrain from any unsubstantiated statements”. The state news agency IRNA reported that he said Tehran was willing to assist the investigation, and Iranian state media called the allegations baseless.

Tehran had already given its answer last month. Its London embassy said then that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” what it called “unfounded and malicious speculations”, and warned that they would “fuel Iranophobia propaganda”.

## Twenty-nine signatures

London did not make its case alone. A joint declaration backed the British attribution. Al Jazeera put the number of signatories at twenty-nine, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most European states, while The National said nearly thirty. It condemned “in the strongest terms Iran’s use of violent attacks”, listing “acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities”.

> Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories... is unacceptable.

![A shield covered with British, French, German, Canadian, Australian, and Japanese flags splinters near an outstretched dark hand against a blue background and red circle.](https://rews.cc/img/bf001f752fd3a06dbbb9a3f18cdab7c1bb708a2e.webp)

## “Smells weakness”

In the chamber, not everyone thought the response went far enough. Oliver Dowden, a former deputy prime minister, said Iran regarded Britain as its enemy and “smells weakness”. He recalled attempted attacks at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Akrotiri in Cyprus as well as at Fairford, and suggested that a successful attack on a British base should bring direct action. He also asked for “enhanced support and assistance to allies under constant attack”, pointing to recent attacks on Saudi Arabia. Burnham answered that Britain was giving the “most robust response” and “playing its part”.

Fairford is the newest entry in a long list. In July, after the Diego Garcia and Akrotiri incidents and earlier attacks on dissidents, the government used new powers against state-sponsored proxies to ban support for the IRGC and a linked group. That group is accused of attacks on Jewish- and Israeli-linked sites and on Persian-language media. The National counts at least 15 credible Iran-backed threats to kill or kidnap people in Britain in 2022 and 2023, and more than 20 in 2025. Some of them targeted Iranians who left their country hoping to be beyond its reach.

For now, the case that has reached the level of prime ministers and ambassadors still rests on the same physical evidence: three vans, petrol, no explosives, seven arrests and seven releases. The government has named Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. It has not yet charged anyone in a British court.