LONDON — Two men appeared in a London court on Tuesday on national security charges over what prosecutors say was an Iran-backed plot against a U.S.-run military air base in England.
British nationals Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir, both aged 24 and from London, were charged under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Abdulkarim is charged with assisting Iran's intelligence service and Essghir with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K.
RAF Fairford, in western England, has been used to strike Iran during this year's war. The U.S. pulled its bombers from the base after a major security scare last month when five men were detained near the perimeter of the base late at night.
Britain has linked Tehran to the incident. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the apparent plot was "almost certainly" directed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
Prosecutors said during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court that Abdulkarim acted as an intermediary for a handler known as Ali, who police believe is based outside Britain and is working on behalf of Iran.
Prosecutor Louise Gray said Ali instructed a group of men to drive three vans loaded with containers of gasoline to RAF Fairford, park the vehicles and walk away. Soon after they did so, in the early hours of Sept. 27, the men received a message by phone “that there was a bomb in the vehicles." One of the suspects then called the police, Gray said.
Armed police officers swarmed the rural area, and five men, including Essghir, were arrested. Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes as army bomb-disposal experts searched for explosives. Police later said they had found oil drums containing gasoline in the vans, but no explosives.
Essghir was initially released on bail before being re-arrested last week. The charge he faces relates to an alleged “reconnaissance” mission to film the base on Aug. 22.
Abdulkarim was arrested in the past week. Prosecutors say he aided Ali, buying equipment for the mission and receiving payments from him totaling about 70,000 pounds ($93,000).
Both suspects spoke in court to confirm their names, addresses and dates of birth. Essghir was ordered detained until his next hearing, while Abdulkarim, who attended court in a wheelchair, was granted bail. Both are due to appear in court again on Nov. 20.
Six other men have been arrested and released on bail as police investigations continue.
Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.
Earlier this month, the head of Britain's MI5 spy agency warned that both Iran and Russia were expanding their attacks against the U.K., and that the RAF Fairford incident was not unique.
Ken McCallum, who leads the U.K.’s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country’s Islamic authorities. He said more than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year.
“We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state, and as the director general of MI5 said just the other week, we are working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat,” said Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the U.K.
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A previous version of this story incorrectly said Abdulkarim is a British-Iranian national. He is British.