A small British power plant was reportedly forced offline for four days in July following a cyberattack attributed to hackers linked to the Iranian state.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the attack affected a small-scale generator and never threatened the wider energy system. Neither the government nor the National Cyber Security Centre has identified the site or publicly presented evidence establishing who carried out the attack.
The Telegraph attributed it to hackers affiliated with Iran. Western cybersecurity agencies have been warning of possible Iranian operations since the US and Israel began their war against the country in February, although relatively little activity has so far been reported.
Britain’s electricity network includes numerous small gas generators which can be switched on when extra power is needed. Following the incident, the government contacted energy companies about the danger of further attacks. It is also updating cybersecurity regulations and preparing an energy resilience strategy.
Presented without context, the incident becomes another story about an aggressive foreign state threatening innocent Britain. But Britain isn’t standing outside the war. The British state has placed its territory, military infrastructure and intelligence services at the disposal of the US war machine.
The US and Israel launched their attack on Iran on 28 February without authorisation from the UN Security Council. More than 100 international-law experts have described the initial attack as a clear violation of the UN Charter.
Britain didn’t condemn the aggression. Its representatives at the UN concentrated on condemning Iran’s retaliation, while British aircraft were sent into action across the region. Keir Starmer declared that Iran could end the war, shifting responsibility onto the country that had been attacked.
On 1 March, Starmer authorised the US to use British bases for bombing operations inside Iran. RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands were made available for strikes against Iranian missile facilities. On 20 March, this permission was expanded to cover attacks on missile capabilities said to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The government calls these attacks defensive. The material facts tell a less convenient story.
US B-1B and B-52 bombers were stationed at RAF Fairford. Reporters saw three B-1Bs return from what was believed to be the first attack on Iran launched from a British base. Ground crews were filmed handling and loading 2,000-pound JDAM bombs and long-range JASSM missiles. At points before the April ceasefire, as many as four bomber sorties a day were reportedly leaving the base.
The bombs were supplied through RAF Welford, one of the largest US munitions stores in Europe. Convoys carrying explosives were observed travelling between Welford and Fairford several times a day.
RAF Lakenheath was used to assemble and forward-deploy American F-22, F-15E and F-35A fighters before the war began. An F-15E from Lakenheath’s 494th Fighter Squadron was later shot down over Iran. Tankers operating from RAF Mildenhall refuelled US aircraft travelling to and from the Iranian theatre.
British and American intelligence continued to be shared around the clock. Britain’s Tyche imaging satellite increased its passes over Iran, while UK Space Command monitored Iranian missile activity and supplied warnings to allied forces. The government has refused to say whether British satellite imagery was used to select targets for US or Israeli attacks.
By June, the foreign secretary was openly admitting that “UK assets provided support and we enabled basing support for US operations.”
British forces have also entered combat themselves. RAF aircraft have shot down Iranian drones over Jordan and near Qatar, while British counter-drone troops have operated in Iraq. Typhoons, F-35Bs, surveillance aircraft, missile systems and naval forces have been deployed across the region to defend US bases and allied monarchies from Iranian retaliation.
Calling these operations defensive doesn’t make Britain an innocent party. By shielding American bases and intercepting Iranian retaliation, British forces allow the US and Israel to devote more of their military power to attacking Iran. Defence and offence form part of the same war effort.
If the attribution of the power plant attack is correct, it didn’t appear out of nowhere. It followed months in which Britain allowed its territory to be used for bombing Iran while directly helping to contain the Iranian response. Once the British state made its airbases, intelligence systems and military forces part of the war, it exposed infrastructure in Britain to retaliation.
The workers who depend on that infrastructure weren’t consulted. Permission to use British bases was granted by the government without a prior parliamentary vote. The targets, weapons and civilian casualties remain hidden behind military secrecy. Yet if power companies have to spend more on cybersecurity and emergency protection, the cost will ultimately be recovered from workers through higher bills, taxes or both.
That follows the usual class pattern of imperialist war. Arms manufacturers, military contractors and energy companies receive orders, investment and state guarantees. The risks are pushed onto the population.
The same ruling class voluntarily backed sanctions which cut Europe off from cheaper Russian pipeline gas and increased dependence on expensive imported liquefied natural gas, including supplies from the US. It then helped launch another war in a region central to the world’s energy supply. Workers are expected to absorb the resulting price rises while energy and weapons monopolies collect their profits.
The plant outage itself was small and the wider grid remained secure. The political danger is much larger. Britain’s rulers have turned the country into a launchpad for American aggression and made its civilian population pay for the consequences. Imperialism exports bombs and imports insecurity.
