Iranian man and Romanian woman charged after UK nuclear base attempt

An Iranian man and a Romanian woman have been charged after attempting to enter Britain's Faslane nuclear naval base. 

The 34-year-old man and a female 31, were in a vehicle when approaching a gate at HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland.

The pair lacked the right passes to enter and were turned away, it has been reported - before being detained after 'acting suspiciously in the vicinity'.

They are now due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday, March 23. 

The naval base is the Royal Navy's headquarters in Scotland and is home to Britain's nuclear submarines including the Vanguard vessels armed with Trident missiles.

Police Scotland announced the pair had been arrested and charged as Iran escalated tensions by firing two ballistic missiles at a joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean just hours after Keir Starmer gave the green light for Donald Trump to use UK-based bombers threatening the Straits of Hormuz.

The move prompted Tehran to warn the Prime Minister he had placed British lives 'in danger' by consenting to Trump's request to use B-52s and other aircraft flying out of RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia to blast Iranian missile sites in the strategically important waterway.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi swiftly asserted that Iran would 'exercise its right to self-defence' if the UK joined US operations.

Posting on X, he said: 'Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-US war of choice on Iran. Ignoring his own People, Mr Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran.'

HM Naval Base Clyde, commonly known as Faslane, is home to four Trident-armed ballistic missile submarines as well as the Navy's seven Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines.

The base, 25 miles north-west of Glasgow, hosts submarines powered by nuclear reactors.

A serious nuclear incident took place at the base early last year, it was revealed last August.

There was a Category A event at HMNB Clyde on Gare Loch in Faslane between January and April.

The Ministry of Defence defines a Category A incident as the most serious and those which carry an 'actual or high potential for radioactive release to the environment'.

But the government department insisted the incident at HMNB Clyde did not pose a risk to the public nor result in any radiological impact to the environment.

It was revealed in a written parliamentary answer by defence procurement minister Maria Eagle after she was asked to provide the number of Nuclear Site Event Reports (NSERs) at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases.

NSERs detail incidents at nuclear facilities and are categorised based on their safety significance and impact. 

She disclosed that there had been a category A event at Faslane between January 1 and April 22 as well as two category B, seven category C and four category D incidents.

Ms Eagle added that there were five further events deemed 'below scale' and less serious.

The Faslane base is guarded by Ministry of Defence Police as well as Royal Marine Commandos from the 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group.