Re-arrests at Fairford

British police re-arrested two men on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service as part of the investigation into activity at the RAF Fairford air base in Gloucestershire last month. Counter Terrorism Policing said the men were a 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national, and it said the country to which the investigation relates is Iran. Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said, “This is very much a live investigation, and our evidence gathering continues,” as he described ongoing work by specialist teams.

Taylor added that police consider it “highly likely that there is Iranian state involvement,” while the other five men arrested earlier remained on police bail. Police said they had been alerted to three suspicious vehicles near the US airbase in Gloucestershire in the early hours of 27 September, when a major incident was subsequently declared and dozens of homes were evacuated.

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Police said a 24-year-old man was initially held on 27 September near the base, and police said a 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts days later on 1 October in Westminster. RAF Fairford had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, and American B-1 bombers were withdrawn shortly after five British men were arrested outside the military base in the early hours of September 27. Five men were found with petrol in three vans near the airbase, and they were initially arrested on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act before being further arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act.

Police later found a quantity of an accelerant, gasoline, in three vans at the site, but it said police found no explosives. The BBC said the other five men remain on police bail, and it said the re-arrests announced on Tuesday related to the 24-year-old and the 25-year-old.

What some reports left out

Police found gasoline in three vans; no explosives

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Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said investigators were continuing to examine what the level of involvement was and the ambition behind it, while he said national security investigations can take time to progress. “Our investigators are continuing to examine what that level of involvement was and the ambition behind it,” and it said specialist teams were working to interrogate the many lines of enquiry. The BBC said the Iranian Embassy in London rejected links to the incident, and it said the regime “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” linking Iran to the incident.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham had said the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been coordinated in Iran, which Iran’s ambassador to Britain has denied. The bomb disposal team was deployed to the village to examine a number of vehicles after police received a call about “three suspicious vehicles” travelling towards RAF Fairford at 00:45 BST.