A British citizen has been arrested for allegedly spying on behalf of Iran near a UK air base in Cyprus, which serves as the RAF’s main hub for Middle East operations.
Cypriot authorities said on Saturday that they had detained a man on “terrorism and espionage” charges.
People in the UK familiar with the arrest did not dispute local Cypriot media reports that the alleged spy was suspected of working for Iran.
He is alleged to have monitored the UK’s Akrotiri base on the eastern Mediterranean island as well as the Cypriot Andreas Papandreou air base, which is sometimes used by the US air force.
The Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office said that the man was British and they were “in contact [with] the authorities in Cyprus regarding the arrest”.
Cypriot officials initially described the suspect as an Azerbaijani. The UK was unable to confirm immediately if he held dual nationality.
After appearing in court in Cyprus on Saturday, the man was detained for eight days on suspicion of espionage.
“Today following a co-ordinated operation by the police headquarters a person was arrested who seems to be related to terrorists acts,” the Cypriot government said.
They added that a regional court had issued a detention order “for criminal acts related, among others, to terrorism and espionage”.
They declined to comment further citing national security reasons.
A Cypriot official said they had been monitoring the individual with allies for the past month. Cypriot media reported the local police operation had been supported by the UK’s overseas intelligence service, MI6, and Israel’s Mossad.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Saturday that a planned attack on Israeli citizens by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been averted due to co-operation between Israeli and Cypriot security services.
“Thanks to the activity of the Cypriot security authorities, in co-operation with Israeli security services, the terror attack was thwarted,” Sa’ar said on X, without elaborating.
The UK Ministry of Defence directed enquiries to the FCDO, which works closely with MI6, as well as assisting British nationals when they are arrested overseas.
It is the UK government’s long-standing policy to neither confirm nor deny claims relating to intelligence matters.
The arrest comes as Israel’s war with Iran enters its eighth day and as the US weighs entering the conflict to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The UK has moved additional fighter jets and other military assets to the region in what Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called a contingency measure. Some of the Typhoon jets were expected to be sent to Cyprus.
On Friday, UK military aircraft were sabotaged at Brize Norton, the RAF’s biggest base, by the Palestine Action activist group, which breached security and sprayed paint into the engines of several planes.
The UK is expected to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation next week.
There has been little indication that the UK would join strikes on Iranian territory. Starmer has emphasised de-escalation and diplomacy this week but has also said Iran must not acquire a nuclear weapon.
Starmer hinted last weekend that UK military assets could be used to defend Israel as it trades strikes with Iran. Iran has threatened to strike UK forces in the region if it supports Israel.
RAF jets helped shoot down Iranian projectiles launched against Israel in April last year and assisted with target identification in October, but the UK has not been involved in the latest fighting.
Israel’s ambassador to London said this week they had not requested or discussed help from the UK.
Starmer may also have to weigh whether to allow the US to use the joint UK-US base of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago if the Trump administration decides to enter the war.
B2 stealth bombers, some of which are positioned on the island, are the only military aircraft capable of delivering the largest ‘bunker-buster’ bombs believed to be capable of penetrating Iran’s underground nuclear site near Fordow.
On Friday UK foreign secretary David Lammy met Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and his counterparts from France and Germany.
Lammy said they were trying to offer Iran a diplomatic “off-ramp” but have also warned Tehran that it should hold talks with the US even without a ceasefire with Israel.
