The UK has asked Cyprus to extradite a dual British-Azerbaijani national suspected of spying on a British air base on the Mediterranean island. Additionally, London police stated on Friday, 31 July ’26, that he is also accused of passing his findings to Iran’s revolutionary guards.
Rashad Sultanov, 44, from Islington in north London, is being held in custody by Cypriot authorities as extradition proceedings progress, as shared in a statement from the Metropolitan Police.
The statement added that the case marks the UK’s first overseas National Security Act investigation. Counter-terrorism police led the investigation into incidents at Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus that occurred between 11 May and 22 June 2025.
Britain has two military bases in Cyprus. The Cyprus police revealed that they first arrested this suspect in ’25, and he has remained in their custody since then. An Israeli minister at that time had intimated that the Cypriot authorities had thwarted an attack on Israeli citizens.
A Cypriot police spokesman shared that this suspect had been formally rearrested on Friday, 17 July, following Britain’s extradition request.
Hostile surveillance research allegedly shared with IRGC
The British police shared that the suspect allegedly conducted hostile surveillance on the base. Thereafter, he’s alleged to have shared that information with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The head of counter-terrorism policing in London, Helen Flanagan, said in a statement that this reflects the UK being able to use the National Security Act overseas, especially when British military bases are allegedly targeted by hostile state activity.
The IRGC threatened earlier this month to attack any British military bases used by U.S. forces to launch attacks on Iran.
An Iranian-type Shahed drone caused slight damage on 2 March when it hit facilities at Akrotiri. Soon after that attack, Britain said that the Akrotiri base wouldn’t be part of its defensive agreement with the United States (U.S.) over the use of UK bases.
Also in March ’26, Iran was reported to have fired 2 ballistic missiles at a U.S.-UK Indian Ocean military base – Diego Garcia – though neither reached the target.
