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Iran summons British ambassador and calls the RAF Fairford plot claim a false flag
Tehran accused Britain of a destructive role and demanded evidence. A German court has meanwhile jailed two men for plotting attacks for Iranian intelligence.
Key points
- Iran summoned British ambassador Hugo Shorter and demanded evidence for London's accusation.
- Tehran called the claim a "clumsy false flag operation".
- A Hamburg court jailed two men for up to eight and a half years for an Iranian-directed plot.
Iran has summoned Britain’s ambassador in Tehran, Hugo Shorter, and demanded that London produce evidence for its claim that Iran was probably behind a suspected plot near RAF Fairford, the air base in England used by American bombers.
The Iranian foreign ministry called the British accusation a “clumsy false flag operation”. Its spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, accused Britain of playing a “destructive role” in the region.
Britain had earlier summoned Iran’s ambassador in London and sanctioned two Iranians over the plot. The row has also drawn in Britain’s allies. The Pentagon has thanked London for its intelligence on the plot, and the United States has since withdrawn its bombers from Fairford. Spain was among the countries that signed a joint statement on the case.
Britain’s security service has warned of wider Iranian activity. In his annual threat update this week, MI5’s director general, Sir Ken McCallum, described Iran and Russia as “attempting to expand their hybrid campaign”, with more than 50 arrests in the past year.
On Thursday a court in Hamburg sentenced two men for plotting attacks on pro-Israel figures on behalf of Iranian intelligence. Ali S., a Danish national, was jailed for eight and a half years and Tawab M., an Afghan, for four and a half years.
The row comes as Washington announced fresh sanctions on 16 individuals and 10 entities linked to Iran’s finances.