Two London men have been charged under Britain’s National Security Act over the scare at RAF Fairford, and prosecutors have now told a court what they say happened that night. By their account, one of the men in the vans called police himself, setting off a major incident at a base used by U.S. bombers.
Mohmed Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir, both 24, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 27. Both are due at the Old Bailey on November 20. The account comes from the prosecution’s outline at that first hearing and has not been tested at trial. We found no report that either man has entered a plea, and neither has been convicted of anything.
Three vans, petrol and a bomb warning
Prosecutor Louise Gray told the court that a man known only as “Ali,” believed by police to be abroad and acting for the Iranian state, ordered a group of men to drive vans loaded with petrol to the base. Abdulkarim allegedly arranged for five men to take three vans, Reuters reported. Around £300 of petrol went into drums in the back.
Early on September 27, near Fairford in Gloucestershire, the men were told by phone to park the vans and walk away, prosecutors said. Then came a message about the cargo. “Shortly thereafter the message was received that there was a bomb in the vehicles and one of them called the police,” Gray said, in remarks reported by LBC. Reuters quoted her as saying one of them called 999. Police said in September that they had received reports of three vehicles heading for the base, including a call from a member of the public, and they did not then say who else had called.
Essghir, who prosecutors say was in one of the vans, then messaged Ali asking “wtf” was going on and got no reply, according to Reuters.
Police found three white vans and five men. They found no explosives. Each van held a metal oil drum, two of which contained petrol, along with hard plastic water butts and internet-enabled dashcams, the court heard. Prosecutors have not said in the reports we read what the operation was meant to achieve, or what the dashcams were for.
What each man is charged with
The charges differ from the original arrests. Police first held the five men on suspicion of explosives offenses and of preparing a terrorist act. Neither charge announced on October 27 is a terrorism or explosives count.
Abdulkarim faces one count of assisting a foreign intelligence service under section 3(2) of the act, covering August 31 to September 28, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The CPS release does not name a country. Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said police believe it is Iran. Prosecutors allege Abdulkarim bought equipment for the mission and received payments from Ali totaling around £70,000.
Essghir faces one count under section 4(1), for being in the vicinity of a prohibited place on August 22 for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K. The count concerns filming the base’s perimeter at Ali’s request, the court heard, about a month before the vans arrived. Reuters describes him as a dual British-Iranian national. Taylor’s statement, as carried by Yahoo, calls him a British national.
Abdulkarim was granted bail on conditions including surrendering his passport. Essghir was remanded in custody.
Six others remain on bail
Seven men had been arrested before the charges came. Essghir was one of the original five, and he was re-arrested on October 20 along with a 25-year-old dual U.K.-Iranian national first held on October 1. That man was released without charge but remains on bail. Those re-arrests led detectives to interview Abdulkarim under caution, according to Taylor. Police said six people in all remain on bail, Reuters reported, four of them British nationals arrested outside the base.
The bail decisions had drawn criticism, including from President Donald Trump, who said he wouldn’t have done it, GB News reported. Taylor defended them on October 27, saying choices made in an investigation can look “illogical to those on the outside” and that this one led to better evidence and the charges, according to Reuters via NBC News. He also said proxy investigations take time because police have to establish what each person knew about the purpose of the job they were given, GB News reported.
Where Iran comes into it, and where it doesn’t yet
The Iranian link rests so far on police belief and the prosecution’s description of Ali, who has not been publicly identified. The court also heard that Ali is potentially connected to an incident at the Israeli embassy earlier this year, when propaganda videos posted online suggested it had been attacked with a chemical weapon by a drone, LBC reported.
The political claims went further. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in October that the plot was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, CNN reported, while Reuters summarized his remarks as saying the activity was likely coordinated in Iran. Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said on October 13 that Iran is trying to hit military sites in Britain and that more than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year, Scripps News reported.
Iran denies any role. Its ambassador to Britain has rejected the allegation, Reuters reported, and its Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador and demanded evidence, according to Scripps.
The scare also moved American aircraft. The U.S. withdrew all its bombers from Fairford days after the arrests. U.S. intelligence had tracked planning by Iranian groups against the base weeks before the arrests, CNN reported, citing multiple sources. Trump told reporters the men planned to do “big damage” and that the bombers “didn’t fly out by accident.” We found no report of them returning. None of that has been presented as evidence in the reports we read of the court hearing, and we found no public account of what the U.S. intelligence showed.
Our October 4 piece on what police had confirmed at the time is U.S. Bombers Quit RAF Fairford. What Police Have Confirmed. The charges are set out in the Crown Prosecution Service’s October 27 release, which reminds the public that both men have the right to a fair trial.
Sources
- Crown Prosecution Service, “CPS announces two men charged with National Security Act offences following RAF Fairford incident” (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: the charges, sections and dates.
- LBC, on the Westminster hearing (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: Gray’s remarks, the contents of the vans, the payments, the embassy link, bail and the Old Bailey date.
- Reuters via The Globe and Mail, “Two men charged in U.K. over RAF Fairford incident allegedly linked to Iran” (Oct. 27, 2026) and Reuters-based report in Iran International (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: Abdulkarim’s alleged role, the petrol, the 999 call, Essghir’s message and nationality, and those on bail.
- Reuters via NBC News, “2 men charged with helping Iran over incident at U.S.-run military base in Britain” (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: Taylor’s defense of the bail decisions.
- Yahoo, “Two men charged over alleged terror plot at RAF Fairford were being controlled by Iranian handler, court told” (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: Taylor’s full statement, the re-arrests and the court’s account.
- GB News, “RAF Fairford suspects in court over alleged Iran-linked terror plot” (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: bail conditions, Trump’s reaction and Taylor on proxies.
- CNN, “Two British men charged with helping Iran over Fairford airbase incident” (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: Burnham’s remark, U.S. intelligence tracking and Trump’s remarks.
- Scripps News, “MI5 chief says Iran is targeting military sites and suspected plot at RAF Fairford is ‘not unique'” (Oct. 13, 2026). Used for: McCallum’s remarks and Iran’s response.
- Rayo/Jazz FM, “Two men appear in court over suspected terror plot at RAF Fairford” (Oct. 27, 2026). Used for: confirming the hearing details and the Old Bailey date.