UK arrests five men near RAF Fairford over suspected terrorist plot

The UK authorities have apprehended five men on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack outside RAF Fairford, a British air base that also hosts US warplanes involved in strikes on Iran.

According to a statement by Gloucestershire Police Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone on Sunday, police received “a call relating to three suspicious vehicles travelling towards RAF Fairford.” The local media later described the vehicles as three white vans.

Officers arriving at the scene subsequently arrested five individuals near the village of Whelford “on suspicion of committing offenses under the Explosives Act,” with Counter Terror Police investigating what officials characterized as a “major incident.”

The BBC published an unverified photo purportedly showing the arrested suspects sitting half-naked on the ground with their hands behind their backs and faces blurred.

A British Army bomb disposal unit was deployed to the scene to examine the vehicles, with approximately 85 households evacuated as a precaution, Ocone told reporters. Several British media outlets have carried what appears to be helicopter footage depicting a specialized wheeled robot operating near the vans.

Local residents who have nowhere else to stay have been provided temporary shelter inside a leisure center.

Commenting on the incident in a post on X, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged “people not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts.”

Later on Sunday, Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth gave an update, saying that the authorities believe the “matter to be contained.” However, she declined to reveal whether the police were looking for any more suspects.

She also clarified that local residents would be unable to return to their homes tonight.

Meanwhile, Sky News claimed that while there are “no conclusions yet,” the police are looking into Iran’s potential involvement in the suspected bomb plot, among several other lines of inquiry, with Reuters carrying a similar report.

The US Air Force has operated out of RAF Fairford for decades, with heavy bombers stationed there, including those used in strikes on Iran.

Back in July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps issued a statement warning the UK specifically that “any base used to launch attacks on Iranian territory is a legitimate target for our forces.”

Commenting on Sunday’s incident, a US military spokesperson told local media that the Pentagon was “working closely with our UK counterparts to monitor this situation.”

US President Donald Trump, for his part, told reporters that the suspects “were looking to do big damage to our fort.”

“We had them under investigation… We had them under view for a long time, and we got them,” he claimed, adding that “working with Britain – it was an amazing job.”