British-Azerbaijani man arrested in Cyprus over alleged spying on UK airbase for Iran

A British-Azerbaijani national has been arrested ⁠in Cyprus on suspicion of spying on a British airbase on the Mediterranean island and passing information to Iran’s ⁠Islamic Revolutionary Guard ⁠Corps, the Metropolitan police ​said.

Rashad Sultanov, 44, from Islington, north London, was arrested on 17 July by Cypriot authorities ⁠and is being held in custody as extradition proceedings continue, the police said in a statement on Friday.

He was arrested as part ⁠of Britain’s first overseas National Security Act investigation, led by counter-terrorism police into incidents at ​Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in ‌Cyprus between 11 May and ‌22 June last year, the statement said. Cypriot police did not immediately ‌return a request for comment.

Sultanov allegedly conducted hostile surveillance on the base and is alleged to have then shared information with the IRGC, the Met said.

Helen Flanagan, the head of counter-terrorism policing in London, said: “This case shows we are able to use the National Security Act overseas when British military bases are allegedly targeted by hostile state activity.”

Earlier in July the IRGC threatened to attack any British military ​bases used by US forces to launch attacks on Iran.

In March, an Iranian-type Shahed drone strike caused slight damage to facilities at Akrotiri. Soon afterwards, Britain said the base would not be part of its defensive agreement ⁠with the US over the use of UK bases.

Also in ​March, Iran was ​reported to have fired two ​ballistic missiles at a US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, ​in the Indian Ocean, ‌though neither hit ​the target.

Akrotiri is ​one of two bases Britain has retained in its former colony since Cyprus’s independence in 1960. It has been used for military operations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.