Iran calls recent security incidents linking Tehran ‘false flags’, accuses adversaries of building a ‘raft made of lies’

New Delhi: Iran has dismissed accusations linking it to recent security incidents as a “raft made of lies”, alleging that its adversaries were manufacturing events and assigning blame to justify their war against the country. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, made the broad accusation without naming any incident, country or investigation in his statement.

“False flags are an old craft: manufacture the incident, assign the blame and harvest the consequences,” Baqaei wrote in a post on X. He argued that growing international scepticism about what he described as an unlawful war of aggression against Iran had left those conducting it searching for a justification.

Baqaei suggested that even fabricated allegations could offer political relief to governments struggling to defend their decision to go to war. His remarks did not identify the events he had in mind or provide evidence establishing that any particular incident had been staged.

The absence of specific references matters because the statement cannot be treated as a direct response to either the suspected security plot near Britain’s RAF Fairford airbase or the recent Flydubai cockpit incident. It instead set out Tehran’s wider position on accusations of Iranian involvement in security incidents beyond its borders.

One investigation attracting considerable attention is the case involving suspicious activity near RAF Fairford, an airbase used by American bombers for operations against Iran. British counter-terrorism police announced a seventh arrest on Tuesday, detaining a 22-year-old British national in Westminster, central London, on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

Officers also searched a property in the same area, although police did not disclose what they found. Five British men arrested near the base on September 27 and a 25-year-old dual British-Iranian national detained on October 1 remain on police bail while the investigation continues.

The original incident triggered armed police deployments and the precautionary evacuation of about 85 households near the Gloucestershire airbase. Following extensive examinations of the vehicles involved, police confirmed that petrol had been recovered but no improvised explosive devices were found.

Investigators have said they are considering whether individuals acted knowingly or unknowingly on behalf of a foreign state, alongside other possible explanations. Assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of national counterterrorism policing, said the original suspects’ release on bail was an investigative decision and that they remained subject to strict conditions.

Political statements about the case have gone further than the details disclosed by police. The British prime minister, Andy Burnham, has said there were “strong indications” of Iranian involvement, without publicly setting out the supporting evidence, while Tehran has separately denied involvement in the alleged plot.

The United States has also removed its bombers from Fairford over concerns involved a possible Iranian operation using a complex drone attack. The US European Command declined to discuss intelligence or specific measures taken to protect its forces.

Washington’s public explanations have differed over the relationship between the suspected threat and the aircraft movements. The US president, Donald Trump, attributed the redeployment to an Iran-linked threat, while the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said there was no direct connection and described the Pentagon as continually reallocating resources.

The senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, Vicki Evans, said investigators were pursuing multiple lines of inquiry to establish the motivation behind the events near Fairford. That investigation remains unresolved, while Baqaei’s broader allegation of fabricated incidents offers no case-specific explanation that can be tested against the evidence disclosed so far.