Iran has denied involvement in an alleged plot to attack the UK's Fairford air base, used by the US to strike Iranian targets. Police said five men arrested in connection with the case on charges of explosives and terrorism offences were British citizens.
Police were called to the base, located about 145km west of London, early yesterday morning after a local farmer alerted them. She reported seeing three large white vans parked near the base and a group of "men with hoods and masks" running towards a nearby field.
Armed police officers arrived at the scene and detained five men in the Welford area, about a mile from the base.
The five were initially arrested on suspicion of explosives offences. After the investigation was taken over by the police's counter-terrorism unit, they were also suspected of preparing a terrorist act.
Around 85 households near the location where the three vehicles were found were evacuated, and a security perimeter with a radius of 400 meters was established around them.
The police's counter-terrorism unit said that the five men arrested were British citizens aged between 23 and 25 and living in London.
A photo has emerged on social media that allegedly shows some of the suspects after their arrest - sitting without outerwear and with their hands behind their backs. Reuters notes that it has not been able to independently verify or confirm the source of the photo.
Fairford Air Base, opened in 1944 and used by Allied forces during the Normandy landings, is where US forces have been carrying out strikes against Iran this year.
It is one of the few US Air Force airfields in Europe suitable for heavy bombers and played a key role in both the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In July, Britain said its armed forces were ready to defend Fairford after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned London not to allow US bombers to leave the base. According to the Iranian side, any base used to carry out attacks would be a legitimate target.
According to a representative of the local authorities, surveillance in the area has been increased in the past six weeks due to a specific threat from Iran.
The farmer who reported the alert told British media that she saw between eight and ten men with their faces covered getting out of the vans. She said they got to about 100 meters from the fence of the base.
“I just can't understand how, with such a high level of alert at the base, these men managed to get there“, she said, adding that security measures were concentrated only around the main entrance. "I'm very glad they got away," she added.
British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC he was grateful to the woman for her tip-off but stressed she only had a "partial picture" of what happened.
US President Donald Trump said yesterday that the group had been under surveillance for a long time.
"We had been watching them for a long time and we caught them," Trump said, adding that the suspects intended to cause "great damage" to the base.
The Iranian embassy in London has categorically rejected the claim of possible Tehran's involvement. In a statement, the diplomatic mission said it "categorically rejects and strongly condemns recent unfounded and malicious speculation" about a possible Iranian connection to the case.