Two British nationals have appeared in court in connection to an alleged Iran-linked plot at RAF Fairford in September.

Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, from Westminster, London, has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, which police earlier said they believed to be Iran.

Nouman Essghir, also 24 and from Westminster, has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK on 22 August – weeks before he was arrested near the airbase in Gloucestershire alongside four other men.

The pair appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

A major incident was declared after three suspicious vans were seen near the US-operated airbase on 27 September.

Dozens of residents were evacuated and a large cordon was put up in the area around the base. No explosive materials were found in the vans by police but a quantity of petrol was seized.

The court heard vans bearing the logo “Fuel2You” were spotted close to the base.

In the early hours, the vans came across a Ministry of Defence Police cordon and re-routed to another location.

Police arrived and arrested five men. They later revealed that one had called 999 and reported what was going on.

During the hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Essghir stood in the dock wearing a grey sweatshirt and confirmed his name and address.

Abdulkarim is charged with helping with the plot.

He appeared in court in a wheelchair wearing a checked shirt, jeans and a baseball cap. He confirmed his name and address.

Both men are charged under the 2023 National Security Act.

They were told the case will be next heard at the Old Bailey on 20 November.

Essghir was one of five men arrested near the base on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act and later on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act. All five were released on police bail the following day, but Essghir was re-arrested on 20 October.

A 25-year-old UK-Iranian national who was also re-arrested on that date on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service has now been released without charge. He remains on police bail after his initial arrest on 1 October on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts.

The re-arrests in October led to detectives interviewing Abdulkarim.

Eight men have been arrested as part of the counter-terror police investigation.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said the release of the five men on police bail in September had raised significant questions and speculation about the investigation for members of the public.

He stressed that tactics used by counter-terror police can appear “illogical” at times but said that “there will always be a good reason or rationale behind them”.

“In this case, this decision-making has led to swifter progress, better evidence, and ultimately us securing the charges that I’ve announced today,” he added.

US President Donald Trump at the time said he was “surprised” the men had been released, saying: “We would not have released them.”

Taylor said counter-terror police had seen “a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state”.

Iran has previously denied any involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford.

The base has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force (USAF) for decades.

In recent months, the US has flown B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base to the Middle East, after the UK approved a request for it to be used for defensive strikes against Iran.

After the incident in September the US pulled its bombers out of the base and returned them to America.

Trump said the aircraft were removed due to “some threats” to the base, without giving specific details.