Inside Iran's ruthless Quds Force unit tasked with attacks on foreign soil and overseen by 'Shadow Commander' boss - as UK probes regime link to RAF Fairford bomb plot

Speculation is mounting over whether Iran was behind the bomb plot targeting RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Sunday, as British counter-terrorism police investigate a possible link to the regime.If an Iranian connection is established, attention is likely to turn to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and, in particular, its elite foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, which is responsible for conducting covert operations overseas.The Quds Force has increasingly come under scrutiny over the regime’s alleged use of criminal networks and proxies to carry out operations on foreign soil.The IRGC was established after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Islamic Republic and its revolutionary system. Over the years, it has developed into one of the regime's most powerful military and security institutions, with the Quds Force responsible for operations beyond Iran's borders.The Quds Force is headed by 'shadow commander' Esmail Qaani, who took command in January 2020 after the US killed his predecessor, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Baghdad.Qaani oversees an organisation responsible for building, funding, arming and coordinating Iran's network of allied armed groups across the Middle East, but the force's activities have also extended far beyond the region.In recent years, European security services have uncovered Iranian plots involving assassinations, kidnappings and attacks against dissidents, Jewish targets and Iranian opposition figures. Five men were pictured as police arrested them on terror charges near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire One possible avenue of investigation is Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, and specifically its elite foreign operations arm, the Quds ForceSince 1979, researchers tracking Iranian external operations have identified 218 plots worldwide, with around half taking place in Europe.The pace of these plots has increased over the last few years, with MI5 Director General Ken McCallum telling the public in October 2025 that his agency had tracked more than twenty potentially lethal Iran-linked plots in a single year.One of the most worrying features of those operations has been the use of ordinary criminals and gang members as proxies.One of the most notorious examples is Ramin Yektaparast, a German-Iranian gang leader and former Hells Angels figure who was recruited by the Quds force for a series of plots targeting Jewish sites in Germany.Yektaparast was suspected of helping organise attacks on synagogues in Essen and Bochum in November 2022, where shots were reportedly fired, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown.Western intelligence sources later questioned Yektaparast about his alleged relationship with the regime.During his interrogation, he is said to have provided information about his Iranian handlers and their intended target - intelligence that helped disrupt further terror plots in Europe.Yektaparast had fled to Iran before he was due to stand trial in Germany over the murder and dismemberment of a fellow biker in 2014. He was later assassinated by Israel's Mossad in Tehran.But before his death, intelligence sources said he had been recruited by the Quds Force because of his reputation as a violent gang leader with an extensive network of contacts across Europe.According to sources familiar with the case, the Iranians valued his willingness to carry out whatever attack they demanded of him.He was subsequently passed to Quds Force Unit 840, a secretive branch described by intelligence sources as the regime's 'terror export' unit.Iranian defectors and Western intelligence sources have described Unit 840 as operating a network of criminal proxies across Europe.According to those sources, a so-called 'German Network' was built around several assassination cells targeting Iranian dissidents and Jewish community figures.One alleged operation targeted dissident musician Shahin Najafi during a concert in Hanover in September 2023. The Quds Force is headed by 'shadow commander' Esmail Qaani, who took command in January 2020 Yektaparast was suspected of helping organise attacks on synagogues in Essen and Bochum in November 2022The plot was reportedly timed to coincide with the anniversary of Iran's 'Woman, Life, Freedom' protests but was disrupted before the attack could take place.German authorities have also arrested individuals accused of being recruited through Iranian-linked criminal networks, including a Danish national accused of surveilling the German-Israeli Society and the home of a senior figure in Germany's Jewish community.Swedish authorities separately exposed alleged Iranian efforts to use criminal gangs to threaten Jewish, Israeli and opposition targets, while Dutch authorities have attributed the killings of Iranian dissidents to Tehran.In July 2025, France, Britain, the United States, Germany and several other governments jointly condemned what they described as Iran's use of transnational repression, including assassination attempts, kidnappings and intimidation carried out on foreign soil.The reach of Iran's foreign operations has extended across the Atlantic too.A 2022 US indictment accused an IRGC-linked operative of attempting to recruit an assassin on American soil for a plot targeting former US National Security Advisor John Bolton.Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former State Department official Brian Hook have also been placed under extended protective security because of what US authorities described as continuing threats from Iran.And in July of this year, Israeli media, citing unnamed intelligence sources, reported that the Quds Force had established a unit known as 'Mukhtar'.This unit is allegedly working with Mexican cartel networks and members of the Iranian diaspora to target President Donald Trump and other senior US officials.That allegation has not been independently corroborated, however.The history of these alleged operations will now be under scrutiny as British investigators try to establish who was behind Sunday's incident at RAF Fairford.Three vans were spotted heading towards the airbase, which is used by the United States Air Force for operations against Iran.RAF Fairford had already been placed on high alert, with security stepped up in recent weeks. The base lies less than a mile from the centre of the tiny Cotswolds village of Whelford.The plot was dramatically foiled after a quick-thinking local farmer spotted the suspicious vehicles.She sped away before calling police and alerting her neighbours on a local WhatsApp group, telling them to lock their doors. President Trump hailed US-UK co-operation to foil the attack - and insisted that the group were known to police and were 'looking to do big damage' to US forcesMinutes later, armed police descended on the quiet village, home to just around 100 people, and arrested five men.Dramatic footage and pictures from the scene showed the young, shirtless suspects sitting on the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs.In July, Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned that any base used in air strikes on the Islamic Republic was a legitimate target. Iranian ambassador Seyed Ali Mousavi previously said that allowing US bombers to launch from RAF Fairford was an 'important matter for our self–defense.' Last night as he landed back in Washington from Illinois, President Trump hailed US-UK co-operation to foil the attack - and insisted that the group were known to police and were 'looking to do big damage' to US forces.When asked if the US knew about the attack, he said: 'We know all about them. You'll be hearing about it very soon. We caught them.'Earlier in the day he said: 'It was fantastic. Working with Britain, it was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great. 'It may have been Scotland Yard, I don't know. We worked with a lot of them. We had them under view for a long time, and we got them. Thank you.'The five arrested men are in custody and can be questioned for a fortnight under UK anti-terror laws.