TEHRAN – The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned British ambassador to Tehran Hugo Shorter over his government's "baseless" claim that Iran had been involved in a suspected plot targeting a British air base.
According to a statement from the ministry, the British envoy was summoned by Alireza Yousefi, director general for Western Europe at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, one day after Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham said it was "highly likely" that Iran was involved in last month's incident at Royal Air Force Fairford.
During the meeting, Yousefi voiced Iran's strong protest against Britain's "irresponsible and destructive" approach toward his country, categorically rejecting the British government's "baseless" anti-Iran claim.
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He added that "through resorting to projection and leveling unfounded accusations," British officials cannot evade accountability for Britain's participation in the US-Israeli military "aggression" against Iran and long-term hosting of anti-Iran "terrorist" groups and individuals.
He called on the British government to present the documents and evidence supporting its anti-Iran allegations as soon as possible. Otherwise, Tehran will seriously reconsider its relations with London, for which the British government will be responsible.
Shorter gave assurance that he would convey Iran's protest to his country's officials, said the statement.
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On Sept 27, British police detained five people, all in their 20s, on suspicion of "explosives and terrorism offenses" near the Royal Air Force Fairford in Gloucestershire, after being informed that three vans had been seen heading to the base, which the United States has used to launch strikes against Iran.
The individuals were all released on police bail the next day after an examination of what was found in the vans and of the addresses linked to them across London.
Iran seizes sizeable smuggled weapons cache
Meanwhile, Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced Tuesday that its forces had arrested two members of a military-grade arms smuggling team as they were entering the country from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, seizing a sizeable cache of illegal weapons.
In a statement published on its website, the ministry said the operation was carried out by its forces in the western province of Kermanshah in cooperation with the country's border guards.
READ MORE: Iran warns of 'false-flag ploys' to sow discord with Iraq's Kurdistan region
The confiscated arms batch, comprising 99 handguns, 10 Kalashnikov rifles, 1,700 handgun bullets, and 198 handgun magazines, was being smuggled into the country to be used in terrorist operations, it added.
The ministry said one of the detainees was an Iranian individual and the other was a national of a neighboring country, stressing that they had been monitored and identified by its forces prior to entering Iran.
