Man arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of spying on UK military base for Iran

LONDON: A London man has been arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of spying on a UK air force base on the Mediterranean island on behalf of Iran, British police said Friday.

London's Metropolitan Police force said 44-year-old Rashad Sultanov, a UK-Azerbaijani national, is alleged to have conducted “hostile surveillance” of RAF Akrotiri and shared information with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was arrested on July 17, and British police are seeking his extradition.

Police said Sultanov lives in London, and British media said he works as a taxi driver.

Akrotiri is the UK's main air base for operations in the Middle East and in recent years has been used by British warplanes on missions against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq and to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. It was struck by an Iranian-made drone in March, early in the US-Israeli war with Iran.

British prosecutors have authorised charges under the National Security Act. The arrest followed an investigation led by counterterror detectives into incidents at RAF Akrotiri in May and June 2025.

“This case shows we are able to use the National Security Act overseas when British military bases are allegedly targeted by hostile state activity,” said Commander Helen Flanagan of London's counterterror policing unit.

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom banned Iran's powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which it said is a threat to national security.

Law enforcement officials and intelligence experts say Iran-backed proxy groups are behind a growing number of attacks in Europe, most targeting the Jewish community and opponents of Iran's Islamic government.

Britain retained Akrotiri, and another base on Cyprus, after the eastern Mediterranean island gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960.