Officials on Monday confirmed a counterterrorism investigation is underway in Great Britain, in connection with five men who were arrested on charges of alleged suspicious activity near a military base used by the United States.
President Donald Trump has indicated that the arrests occurred after authorities in the U.S. worked with Britain “for a long time” to target suspects accused of traveling to RAF Fairford to carry out a terrorist attack. RAF Fairford is about 100 miles west of London and is one of several bases in Britain that have been used by the U.S. Air Force.
What happened?
Police said five young U.K. nationals from London were arrested on suspicion of carrying out a terrorist act on Sunday morning, prompting the deployment of a bomb disposal team and the evacuation of around 85 households in the area. The arrests occurred after authorities said they received a late-night call about suspicious activity in the village of Whelford, near RAF Fairford.
A woman said authorities responded to the area within “minutes” of her phone call notifying police about three vans with “strange signage” that were parked in a “weird formation.” She told the BBC that she saw a large group of hooded and masked people who fled into the trees when they saw her, prompting her to make the call.
Witnesses in the area told the British outlet that authorities had indicated they were on heightened alert for several days prior to the arrests. One Kempsford resident said neighbors walking along the perimeter of the base on Saturday afternoon were told to return home and close their doors and windows. That incident occurred after authorities offered a “really poor” response to questions from the community about several large vehicles that were parked behind the gates of the base on Wednesday, the resident said.
On Friday morning, one resident reported seeing a man wearing a backpack jumping out of some bushes near the air base. Around five days before a suspected terrorist attack was foiled at RAF Fairford, residents said security had ramped up around the perimeter, including extra concrete barriers and large trucks blocking the entrance to the base.
The woman who made the call to authorities after seeing the masked men near the white vans has expressed surprise that she has not yet been contacted by anyone in an official capacity about what she saw.
Who is behind the suspected plot?
The U.S. is using the Fairford base to carry out bombing missions against Iran.
British authorities are investigating a link between Iran and the arrests in Fairford as a possibility, according to the Associated Press. British counterterrorism detectives have not yet given any details about the suspects, but an Iranian-linked motive is considered the most likely, while a Russian sabotage operation or an Islamist plot were also being looked at as possibilities, according to Reuters.
British officials have declined to confirm or deny such rumors. Iran has denied their involvement in the plot.
“We know that Iran and their proxies wish to do us harm,” Secretary of State for Defense Wes Streeting told the BBC, keeping his comments general. “We know that they hate our democracy, and we know that we regularly have to thwart Iranian attempts to threaten either our interests or indeed our allies.”
While they have confirmed a counterterrorist investigation, authorities have thus far held off on providing details about the alleged terrorism plot, though they are acknowledging “levels of speculation” regarding the incident.
“This is a hugely complex and large-scale operation, involving local and national policing, the MoD, and local agencies, who are working together to progress the investigation and support for the community,” said Vicki Evans, U.K. Counter Terrorism Policing senior national coordinator.
“I am very aware of the levels of speculation about the motivation behind this incident, and the geopolitical questions that are being raised,” she added. “However, I ask that at this time, Counter Terrorism Policing are given the space to work carefully and clearly.”
Why is RAF Fairford so important to the U.S.?
RAF Fairford is vital to the U.S. due to the role it’s playing in the Iran war. The U.S. Air Force has been using the base to deploy B-1 and B-52 bombers in the war, after the British government in March gave Washington permission to use the bombers based at Fairford for “defensive” missions to strike Iranian missile sites used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran warned Britain in July against allowing U.S. bombers to fly from Fairford, saying it considered any base used to launch attacks against the Middle Eastern country as a legitimate target.
At the time, Prime Minister Keir Starmer waved off the warning, saying Britain was ready to protect itself from attacks.
“Our armed forces are ready to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad,” the government said.
“This includes through operating a layered approach to air and missile defence, provided by Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force assets equipped with a range of advanced capabilities, working closely with our NATO allies,” it added.
How has the U.S. responded?
In response to the alleged foiled terrorist attack at RAF Fairford, Trump told reporters in Chicago on Sunday that suspects were “looking to do big damage” to the base.
“We had them under investigation,” he said. “We had them under view for a long time, and we got them.”
“Working with the British worked out great,” Trump added. “It may have been Scotland Yard, I don’t know. We worked with a lot of them … It was fantastic. Working with Britain, it was an amazing job.”
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Streeting, Britain’s defense secretary, declined to give details of the operation, but he said “it was a proud moment” that Trump had recognized “the work that our police and intelligence services do every day.”
“As and when we can, we will report back to the public about these individuals and about the nature of the threat,” he told Times Radio.