UK counter-terrorism police probe Iran link to suspected bomb plot at RAF base

Counter-terrorism police in the United Kingdom are investigating whether there is any link to Iran after police found explosives in three vans near an RAF base in Gloucestershire on Sunday.

Speaking on Monday morning, Defense Secretary Wes Streeting warned it would be “irresponsible to speculate.”

“As soon as we can keep the public informed, we will. I would ask people for a little patience to give the police and the security services the time and space to do their job,” he said.

Since March, the RAF Fairford air base has been used by the U.S. military to launch airstrikes against Iran as the war in the Middle East continues.

In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was aware the base was being used by American bombers and warned the United Kingdom that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces.”

Armed officers arrested a group of five men on Sunday after a call to the emergency services about three “suspicious vehicles that appeared to be traveling toward the air base,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters they had “sought to cause major damage” at the base in southwest England.

“We had them under surveillance for a long time and we caught them,” he said, adding that the United States and the United Kingdom had worked together on the incident.

A local resident, who said it was locally known that the base was under lockdown because of a “terrorist threat,” alerted the emergency services after seeing three vans blocking the road and a large group of hooded men.

She told the PA news agency she found it “astonishing” that it was in fact down to a “brave amateur” who had noticed unusual activity to raise the alarm.

Around 85 families in the nearby village of Whelford were advised to evacuate, and army bomb disposal experts were called in to examine three large white vans stopped on a rural road.

“Counter Terrorism Policing can now confirm it is leading an investigation into an incident that occurred overnight near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire,” the Met statement added.

Aerial footage broadcast showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans, two of which had their rear doors open.

Police believed the incident was “contained” and a 400-meter cordon was put in place.

In March, then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave permission for U.S. “defensive” actions against Iranian missile sites from two bases in the United Kingdom, including Fairford.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham is being kept informed about the incident, a government spokesperson said.

Burnham, who was in the northwestern city of Liverpool alongside other senior ministers for his Labour Party’s annual conference, thanked the police, the armed forces and residents who had been asked to leave their homes “while precautionary checks are carried out.”

Fairford is the United Kingdom base of the 501st Combat Support Wing, an administrative support wing of the U.S. Air Force, which said in a statement that no U.S. Air Force personnel were involved in the incident.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has accused Iran and Russia of using proxies to carry out criminal activity on their behalf on United Kingdom territory.

Earlier this month, reports said British military bases had been targeted by drones more than 300 times over the past year.