President Donald Trump hailed as "fantastic" the arrests of five men believed to be plotting an attack on a British airbase used by the US, saying the suspects were "looking to do big damage" to the facility.
Trump credited British authorities with foiling the incident early Sunday at RAF Fairford, a key launching point for US strikes against Iran. Police were working to establish a motive for what they considered to be a serious attempted attack disrupted at a late stage, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing an ongoing investigation.
The people said authorities were investigating whether there was any Iranian state involvement, although they cautioned that the investigation was ongoing and that a different motive could emerge.
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Police initially arrested the five men on suspicion of offenses under the UK's Explosives Act. They separately arrested them on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, the UK's Counter Terrorism Policing said.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who was in Liverpool for the governing Labour Party's annual conference, described the incident as "deeply concerning." "I want people to know that we will always take every step necessary to protect our communities and keep our country safe," Burnham said.
UK Defense Secretary Wes Streeting held a call with US counterpart Pete Hegseth on Sunday, according to a British official.
Police responded to a report at 12:45 a.m. local time of three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be traveling toward the base. Armed police officers responded and detained the men while residents of a nearby village were evacuated and the army's explosive ordnance disposal unit examined the vehicles. Photographs from the scene showed three parked white vans and five shirtless men sitting handcuffed on the ground.
"We are in the early stages of an investigation, and five men remain in custody," Counter Terrorism Policing Senior National Coordinator Vicki Evans said.
RAF Fairford serves as the preferred bomber forward operating location in Europe for the US Air Force Global Strike Command. Burnham in July approved the use of the base by the US for "defensive strikes" against Iran, continuing the policy of his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
The UK is currently contending with a range of security threats, leaving police with no shortage of possible motivations to investigate.
The government has publicly linked a number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent months to Iranian-backed groups, while the country is also combating rising threats from more traditional Islamist-inspired actors. Separately, left-wing activists opposed to Israel's war in Gaza have broken into British bases several times in recent years.
Britain, like the rest of Europe, is also dealing with an increase in incidences of Russian so-called "hybrid" warfare such as attacks on warehouses containing goods bound for Ukraine.
In July, the UK government said it was investigating what it said was a proxy group backed by Iran, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, over a series of arson attacks on Jewish locations in London. In 2015, Ken McCallum, director of the UK's domestic security service MI5, said his teams had tracked "more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots" in the previous year.
The US European Command "remains vigilant," a spokesperson said, adding that it "will take appropriate actions to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, civilians, contractors, and their families across the European theater."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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