ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Tuesday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over what it deemed “baseless” allegations linking the Islamic Republic to an incident at the RAF Fairford military base, demanding evidence supporting the accusations or Iran would “seriously reconsider” bilateral relations, state media reported.
This comes a day after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday that a late-September security incident targeting RAF Fairford, a British military airbase used by the US Air Force during military operations against Iran was "almost certainly" orchestrated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
On the same day, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned the Iranian ambassador to "reiterate this message in its entirety.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s director general for Western Europe rejected the statement, framing “Britain’s irresponsible actions as part of an anti-Iran campaign,” according to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
The director general demanded that “the British government must provide, as soon as possible, documents and evidence supporting its accusations against Iran Otherwise,Tehran will seriously reconsider bilateral relations, and the British government will bear responsibility for the consequences.”
During the investigation of the incident, five British nationals were detained on terrorism charges in late September, when police noticed three suspicious vehicles driving near the airbase which were later released on bail as the investigations continued.
Meanwhile, 29 countries including European nations, US, Canada, and Australia, issued a joint statement shortly after saying that they acknowledge London’s “attribution of Iran’s involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford.”
“Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable,” their statement read, clarifying that “Anyone who conducts hostile activities on behalf of Iran, or any other state, should know that we will take action to identify, investigate, disrupt, and prosecute these acts.”
