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

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 on 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.