Men charged with national security offences over incident at US base in England

Two men have been charged with national security offences over last month's incident at RAF Fairford, a US-run military base in England, prosecutors have said.

Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, and Nouman Essghir, 24, were both charged on Tuesday under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Mr Abdulkarim has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and Mr Essghir with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.

The base has been used for strikes on Iran.

Surrounds evacuated

Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area 148 kilometres west of London.

Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant, gasoline, in three vans at the site, but no explosives.

Five men who were arrested near the military base in England are all British citizens from London, authorities have confirmed, amid claims Iran's regime was attempting to attack the facility.

One of the suspects was first arrested on September 27. The second suspect was first arrested on October 1.

Both men were released on bail pending further investigation, and re-arrested on October 20.

Growing international threat

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident, which led the US to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the apparent plot was "almost certainly" directed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC.

US President Donald Trump also claimed the arrested men had been under investigation "for a long time".

However, residents maintain they raised the alarm after spotting several suspicious vehicles in the area surrounding the base early on the day of the incident.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

The head of Britain's MI5 spy agency, Ken McCallum, has warned both Iran and Russia were expanding their attacks against the UK, and the RAF base incident was not unique.

Mr McCallum said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country's Islamic authorities.

More than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year, Mr McCallum said.