2 men charged in UK with helping Iran over air force base incident

Two men were charged on Tuesday under Britain’s National Security Act following last month’s security incident at the RAF Fairford military base, with prosecutors accusing one of them of trying to assist Iranian intelligence operations in Britain.

RAF Fairford had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, but they were withdrawn on security grounds shortly after five British men were arrested outside the base in southwest England in the early hours of September 27.

The circumstances of the incident, which remain largely unexplained, attracted huge international attention, coming at a time of heightened concern about the security implications for Western states of the war between the United States and Iran.