UK Blames Iran's IRGC for RAF Fairford Threats, Plans 2 New Sanctions

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 12

Andy Burnham told MPs the UK now assesses the late-September RAF Fairford threat was highly likely coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the IRGC, the government's strongest attribution yet.
Two new sanctions were announced against individuals accused of conducting Iranian espionage and attacks in Europe and the US, while Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned Iran's ambassador.
Five men drove to Whelford near the US-used base in three white vans after midnight on Sept. 27, but police found no explosives and released them on bail the next day without charges.
The episode still rattled Washington: 12 B-1 bombers were withdrawn a week later amid concern about a possible drone threat to a base used in strikes on Iran during the spring-summer war.
The attribution fits a wider UK-US-European warning that the IRGC uses covert networks and proxies beyond Iran's borders, after recent Iran-linked plots including charges against two Iranian nationals over an alleged Manchester chlorine-bomb plan.