LONDON – British law enforcement authorities have announced the arrest of a dual UK-Azerbaijani national in Cyprus, who stands accused of conducting espionage against a major British Royal Air Force base in the eastern Mediterranean on behalf of Iran’s government. The announcement, made Friday by London’s Metropolitan Police Service, identifies the suspect as 44-year-old Rashad Sultanov, a London resident who works as a taxi driver according to British media reports.
Sultanov is alleged to have carried out what police describe as “hostile surveillance” of RAF Akrotiri, the United Kingdom’s primary forward operating air base in the Middle East, before passing intelligence about the site to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The arrest took place on July 17, and British law enforcement has formally launched proceedings to extradite Sultanov back to the UK to face prosecution.
British prosecutors have already approved criminal charges under the 2023 National Security Act, a piece of legislation designed to strengthen the UK’s ability to counter hostile state activity targeting national security interests. The arrest capped a joint counterterrorism investigation into suspicious activity documented at RAF Akrotiri during May and June 2025.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of London’s counterterrorism policing unit, emphasized the milestone of the operation in a public statement, noting “This case shows we are able to use the National Security Act overseas when British military bases are allegedly targeted by hostile state activity.”
The arrest comes just weeks after the UK government formally proscribed the IRGC as a terrorist organization, labeling the elite paramilitary force a persistent threat to British national security. The development aligns with broader warnings from European law enforcement and intelligence analysts, who have documented a steady rise in Iran-linked hostile activity across the continent in recent years, with most incidents targeting Jewish communities and political dissidents who oppose Iran’s ruling Islamic government.
RAF Akrotiri occupies a strategically critical position for Western military operations in the Middle East. In recent years, British warplanes operating from the base have carried out combat missions against ISIS insurgents in Syria and Iraq, and launched airstrikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen amid ongoing regional tensions. Earlier this year, in March during the escalation of hostilities between the U.S.-Israeli bloc and Iran, the base came under attack from an Iranian-manufactured drone, underscoring its status as a high-priority target for Iran and its allied proxy groups.
The British military retains control of Akrotiri and a second sovereign base area on Cyprus, a concession that dates back to the island’s independence from British colonial rule in 1960. Today, the bases remain a key strategic outpost for British and allied military activity across the Middle East and North Africa region.