came across a group of men<\/a>, some with their faces covered, nearby, and that the men ran away when they saw her vehicle.<\/p>\nEarlier, army bomb-disposal experts used a robot to examine the vans. Taylor said \u201ca quantity of petrol was recovered\u201d from the vans, but no explosives.<\/p>\n
Officials hint at possible Iran role<\/p>\n
Taylor, the counterterror police chief, said lines of inquiry include whether the suspected offences were committed by \u201cproxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state\u201d.<\/p>\n
Investigators haven’t concluded whether the incident was state-backed or what the motive was, but authorities have strongly hinted that Iran is possibly involved. They are also investigating a possible link to Russia or non-state militant groups. RAF Fairford has also been the focus of protests by anti-war campaigners.<\/p>\n
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the UK \u201cshouldn\u2019t be cowed by sabre rattling from Iran\u201d, adding that \u201cthe Iranian regime is one that wishes harm to our country, our allies, and the freedom and democracy that we enjoy\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Iranian embassy denied the country’s involvement in the suspected plot.<\/p>\n
Iran and allied militant groups have been accused of plotting or carrying out attacks on US, British and Jewish targets in the past, allegedly acting through local proxies while denying responsibility.<\/p>\n
The air base houses the headquarters of the US Air Force\u2019s 501st Combat Support Wing and is a forward operating location for the US Air Force Global Strike Command. Fairford was used during the 1990 Gulf War, the 2003 Iraq War, and the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran this year.<\/p>\n
British officials have said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025.<\/p>\n
Questions about possible security or intelligence failures<\/p>\n
![\"Unites](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/unites-states-b1-bombers-in-the-morning-mist-at-raf-fairford-3J5HWSHFQZEFTONKMIVGHMC2M4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Unites States B1 bombers in the morning mist at RAF Fairford in Fairford, England (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
It was unclear whether the arrested men had been on the security services’ radars. Local residents described seeing heightened security around RAF Fairford in recent days, with heavy vehicles parked across entrance gates.<\/p>\n
Trump said the suspects were detained following cooperation between the US and Britain, and had been \u201cunder view\u201d for some time. Police, however, said the arrests were triggered by a late-night call about the suspicious vehicles near the base.<\/p>\n
The farmer who called the police, who didn’t want to be named, alleged that her call to police may have foiled the suspected plot. She added that several hours passed between her call and when police \u201csuddenly decided to evacuate people\u201d in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut meanwhile, those vans were right in the middle of the village next to everyone\u2019s houses, and no one did anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Streeting, the defence secretary, said that the farmer only had a \u201cpartial picture\u201d of the operation.<\/p>\n
Local lawmaker Roz Savage said there was \u201canger and anxiety\u201d from residents, especially those who were evacuated from their homes and still haven\u2019t been able to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have so many questions right now, more questions than answers,” she said in a video message on X. \u201cThis should not have been allowed to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A surprise decision by the UK’s counterterrorism police to release five suspects on bail during an investigation into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-615966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/police-officers-stand-at-a-checkpoint-near-raf-fairford-air-RPD6H7KNW5FQPB6ZAXNTOY3RBM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n