Two Men Re-Arrested Over Iran Link in Probe of Suspicious Vans Near RAF Fairford
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British counter-terrorism police on Tuesday re-arrested two men on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, saying the investigation into last month's incident near RAF Fairford relates to Iran. The BBC and CNN both reported the arrests.
The men are a 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old dual British-Iranian national. Seven men have now been arrested in the case, and police say they consider Iranian state involvement highly likely. Iran has firmly rejected the accusations, according to CNN.
How the Fairford investigation unfolded
- Sept. 27: Gloucestershire Police received a call about three suspicious vehicles heading toward RAF Fairford, a U.S.-used air base in Gloucestershire, England. A major incident was declared, bomb disposal teams were deployed and dozens of homes were evacuated, the BBC reported. Petrol was found in three vans, and five men were arrested. The 24-year-old now re-arrested was among those detained near the base.
- Initial charges of suspicion: The five were first arrested on suspicion of Explosives Act offenses and then further arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. Police later said they did not find improvised explosive devices, according to the BBC.
- Oct. 1: The 25-year-old was arrested in the Westminster area of London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.
- Oct. 6: A 22-year-old British national was arrested in Westminster, bringing the total to seven.
- Earlier in October: Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the suspected plot was, in his words, “almost certainly directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard,” CNN reported.
- Oct. 20: The 24-year-old and the 25-year-old were re-arrested under Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, which covers assisting a foreign intelligence service.
What police and officials have said
Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said the inquiry is still active and evidence gathering continues. He said police position is unchanged: “we consider it highly likely that there is Iranian state involvement.” He added that investigators are still examining how deep that involvement went and what it was meant to achieve.
Taylor also said national security cases can take time because of their sensitive nature, and that specialist teams are working through many lines of inquiry in what he called a highly complex investigation.
The other five men remain on police bail. Police have not released the names of any of the seven, according to CNN.
The U.S. connection
CNN reported that U.S. B-1 bombers had been based at Fairford. President Donald Trump praised the arrests when they were announced, saying the U.S. had worked with Britain and that the men were planning to do “big damage” to the base. CNN, citing multiple people familiar with the matter, reported that U.S. intelligence had tracked planning by Iranian groups to target American assets at the base weeks before the arrests.
Days after the first arrests, the U.S. moved all of its long-range bombers out of Fairford after an unspecified threat, according to a source cited by CNN. Trump and Vice President JD Vance suggested a threat to U.S. assets was behind the move, though Vance declined to give details and described it as precautionary. As of Tuesday, none of the bombers had returned.
CNN also reported that a local resident told it she called police after seeing three vans and eight to 10 masked men blocking her driveway. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting thanked her in a Sky News interview but said she had only a partial picture.
Why it matters
For people near the base, the case began with an emergency evacuation of dozens of homes. For the wider public, it is an unusually direct accusation by British police that a foreign state may have been involved in an apparent attack plan against a military site hosting U.S. forces.
The allegations remain unproven. The men were arrested on suspicion, police found no improvised explosive devices, and Iran denies involvement. The re-arrests under a national security law suggest investigators are now examining whether the men helped Iranian intelligence, a separate question from the earlier terrorism and explosives suspicions.
What happens next
Police say the investigation is continuing and evidence gathering is not finished. Five of the seven men remain on bail, and police have not announced charges or a timetable for further steps.
