LONDON (AP) — A dual British-Iranian national arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack has been released on bail following a security incident at a U.S.-run military air base in England, authorities said Saturday.
The 25-year-old was arrested on Thursday in London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts near RAF Fairford air base, which US bombers use to strike Iran. He was the sixth person to be detained and then released on bail while investigators investigated the incident.
British authorities linked the incident to Tehran.
The names of the other five men were not revealed, but police said they were all British citizens in their twenties and from London.
Dozens of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base early Sunday, as armed police officers and army bomb disposal experts raided the rural area. Police later said they found a quantity of gasoline in three trucks linked to the five suspects, but no explosives were found.
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Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK saw “strong indications” that Iran played a role in the incident. He did not provide details about what the suspects were planning or why the UK believed Iran was involved.
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Iran denied involvement. It has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.
RAF Fairford, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, has been used by US bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.
Senior US officials criticized the decision to release the five suspects on bail, with President Donald Trump saying: “I would not have done that,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that many people were “disturbed” by the move.
The arrests came at a time of rising tension over the threat posed by enemy states, with British security services saying Russia and Iran have used proxies to commit crimes on UK soil. British officials said the number of national security cases involving activities by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025.
British officials say agents linked to Iran were behind a series of arson and other attacks in Britain and other countries, many of which targeted the Jewish community and were intended to sow fear. They have previously warned that Tehran may expand its targets in the UK if conflicts in the Middle East continue.
& Edition 2026 The Canadian Press
