UK charges 2 British men over security incident at US-operated air base

The United Kingdom on Tuesday announced it has charged two British men in connection to a suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run air base last month, an incident the country has blamed on Iran.

The British police charged Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, 24, from London, under the National Security Act with conduct to assist a foreign intelligence service, according to a release from the Crown Prosecution Service.

“In this case, we believe that country to be Iran,” Laurence Taylor, the head of British counterterrorism policing, later said in a statement.

Authorities charged a second British man, Nouman Essghir, 24, also under the National Security Act with entering, accessing, inspecting or approaching a “prohibited place” for reasons “prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom” on Aug. 22.

The two men on Tuesday morning appeared in a London courtroom.

Essghir was one of five men initially arrested outside the RAF Fairford air base in the early hours of Sept. 27. The military installation is owned by the U.K. but operated by the U.S., which has positioned its B-1 bombers there to carry out strikes on Iran. Washington withdrew the bombers because of security concerns shortly after the incident in Gloucestershire, England.

Notably, however, Essghir was charged in connection with activity that U.K. authorities accused him of carrying out more than a month before the RAF incident.

Iran has denied its involvement in the incident outside the air base. 

“We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state,” Taylor said. 

“As the director general of MI5 said just the other week, we are working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat,” he added, referring to the U.K.’s domestic security agency.

Five other men arrested in the case remain released on bail, a move for which President Trump has criticized the U.K.

Taylor admitted the men’s release “sparked significant questions and speculation about the investigation and why that was the case,” but he said it led to “swifter progress, better evidence and ultimately us securing the charges.”

“We know that decisions made during our investigations can sometimes appear illogical to those on the outside, but I want to make it very clear that there will always be good reason or rationale behind them,” he said.