A British man was charged on Tuesday with assisting Iran’s intelligence service in connection with a major security incident last month at an air base in England used by the United States in its war with Iran.
The British police said in a statement that the man, Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, a 24-year-old British national from Westminster, London, had been charged under the National Security Act, which makes it an offense to assist a foreign intelligence service.
“In this case, we believe that country to be Iran,” said Laurence Taylor, the head of British counterterrorism policing.
A second British man, Nouman Essghir, 24, was also charged on Tuesday morning 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,” the police said.
They added that Mr. Essghir was first arrested outside R.A.F. Fairford, the air base in Gloucestershire, England, in the early hours of Sept. 27. On that morning, five men were taken into custody after traveling toward the perimeter of the base in three white vans.
The men were initially arrested on suspicion of explosives offenses and of preparing to commit a terrorist act, although they were later found to have only a container of gasoline in the car. All five were released on bail.
Mr. Essghir was rearrested on Oct. 20, and he has been charged in connection with activity he is accused of carrying out on Aug. 22, more than a month before the events at the base prompted a major security alert and evacuations.
Mr. Abdulkarim was arrested as part of the broader investigation into the incident at R.A.F. Fairford, though further details about his potential involvement have not yet been released. Eight men in total have been arrested in connection with the investigation, and six have been released on bail.
The military air base, R.A.F. Fairford, is operated by the United States and has been used by the U.S. Air Force to deploy some of its largest bombers in the American-Israeli war against Iran.
Iran has denied being involved in the events at the air base.
“We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state,” Mr. Taylor said in his statement. “And 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 British domestic security agency.
The two men are set to appear in a London courtroom on Tuesday.
In the wake of the incident at R.A.F. Fairford, a number of questions were raised about what, exactly, the men arrested outside the base on Sept. 27 were doing, and bigger security questions have persisted.
The United States abruptly pulled all of its bombers out of the base earlier this month after officials said that its military had received new information about a possible Iran-backed plot against the installation. At the time, a spokesman for Prime Minister Andy Burnham of Britain said the air base was safe. He referred to a statement made by the British defense secretary, Wes Streeting, who described “tried and tested approaches to defend our bases around the country and throughout the world.”
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