RAF Fairford bomb plot: Rubio claims foreign actor involvement, no evidence given
Five British nationals arrested near RAF Fairford have been released on bail, prompting strong claims from US officials about foreign state involvement.
RAF Fairford terror investigation thrown into confusion after suspects released on bail
A counter-terrorism investigation near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire descended into confusion on Tuesday after five suspects were released on bail, triggering an unusual public intervention by senior US officials, The Guardian UK reports.
Five British nationals from London were detained in the early hours of Sunday after three suspicious vans were spotted outside the base near Whelford village. Police arrested the men on suspicion of explosives offences and terrorism. The village was locked down, residents evacuated for 36 hours, and bomb disposal robots deployed to the scene.
By Tuesday, assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of UK counter-terrorism policing, confirmed all five men had been freed on bail under "stringent conditions". He stressed the investigation remained active. Sources familiar with the case said the releases indicated detectives did not believe the men had been on the brink of a mass casualty attack.
No explosive material was found in the vans following an initial examination, which had led officers to suspect the vehicles might contain improvised explosive devices.
US officials make unsubstantiated claims
The bail decision drew a swift and pointed response from Washington. US secretary of state Marco Rubio, speaking to Fox News on Monday evening, said the incident "clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor" and that "a lot of people" were "disturbed that some of these people have been released on bail". Rubio offered no evidence to support his assertions.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said he would not have freed the men. "We know everything about them. We would not have released them," Trump said. Asked whether the case was linked to Iran, he replied: "It might be." Pressed for details, Trump declined to elaborate further, saying only: "I'd rather not. I mean I know the answer, I could be very specific, but I'd rather not say."
Trump also suggested the plot had been known in advance to US authorities, a claim that sat uneasily with British accounts suggesting the men's specific activities had not been on the radar of security services.
Contradictions over intelligence picture
Local representatives questioned the coherence of official messaging. Tristan Wilkinson, a councillor for the ward, said it appeared the initial alert had come from a member of the public rather than from intelligence sources. "It seems insane that this appears to have been a tipoff from a member of the public, and the security services are claiming that there was a level of intelligence involved as well," Wilkinson said. "I don't see how those two things can both come through at the same time."
Taylor sought to address the wider geopolitical dimension of the investigation. "I know there is significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident," he said. "At counter-terrorism policing we are working within this context every day, and at this stage we are keeping an open mind in this investigation."
He added that investigators were considering the possibility that those detained had acted as proxies, "either knowingly or unknowingly working on behalf of a foreign state".
Iran in the background
Tensions at RAF Fairford had already been running high. Iran's Revolutionary Guards stated in July that the base was a legitimate target. Iran's embassy in London denied any involvement in the events of the past few days.
Iran has previously been suspected of using proxies on British soil in a range of incidents, including alleged arson attacks against Jewish targets and the deployment of a basic drone near the Israeli embassy in London.
The combination of the suspects' release, conflicting official accounts, and unverified claims from Washington left the investigation's direction — and the true nature of events outside the Gloucestershire airbase — far from clear.
Source: The Guardian UK