LONDON — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that “there are strong indications” that Iran was involved in a suspected terrorism plot targeting a U.K. air base used by American bombers in the war with Iran.
Emerging evidence indicates “that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” a military installation with a major U.S. presence, he said in an interview with the BBC. He did not provide details.
His statement is the first time the British government has publicly linked Iran to a suspected plot that prompted a sweeping response by U.K. security services, forced the evacuation of at least 85 homes near the base and triggered alarm among counterterrorism officials in London and Washington.
Tehran has denied any involvement.
Burnham’s comments followed a disclosure by British police that no explosives were found in vans driven by five men who were arrested Sunday on suspicion of planning a terrorism attack at Royal Air Force Fairford.
After “extensive examination” involving military teams and forensic experts, “we can confirm that no improvised explosive devices were found,” Laurence Taylor, the head of British Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement late Tuesday.
Taylor added that only “a quantity of petrol was recovered.”
Counterterrorism police had also “searched properties in London,” Taylor said — an apparent reference to the homes of the five suspects, who were identified as British nationals in their mid-20s.
The latest disclosures help explain why the suspects were abruptly released on bail Monday roughly 36 hours after their arrests on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack and “committing offenses under the Explosives Act.”
The suspects, whose identities have not been disclosed, were arrested while traveling in three vans toward RAF Fairford, a base about 80 miles west of London that is a major hub for long-range U.S. bombers.
The release of the suspects and failure to find explosives seemed to signal the unraveling of a case that had generated banner headlines in the British press and has been cast by President Donald Trump and other administration officials as a dangerous plot involving suspects that U.K. and U.S. authorities had been tracking.
Burnham said, however, that the suspects had been released under “the strictest possible bail conditions” and sought to assure the public that “the authorities have this under the strongest grip and closest control.”
His remarks made clear that the investigation is now squarely focused on Iran’s involvement.
British police are scouring cellphones and other devices seized from the suspects for clues to whether they were recruited by Iran or operating as proxies as they traveled in a group of vehicles toward the high-security military compound on Sunday shortly after midnight.
Burnham’s comments came after U.S. officials repeatedly alluded to Iran’s possible involvement. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Monday evening that “what almost happened” in Britain was “a very serious situation … that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor.”
Iran’s security services warned in July that RAF Fairford could be considered a legitimate target for retaliatory attacks given its role in U.S. airstrikes. Iran has forcefully denied any connection to the Fairford situation.
Among the scenarios being examined by British investigators is whether Tehran had recruited individuals — perhaps unwittingly — to test the defenses at RAF Fairford or trigger the kind of crackdown that occurred as a way of sowing panic.
British police and MI5, the country’s domestic security agency, have monitored dozens of plots since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started in late February. British officials had also taken steps to fortify security at bases including RAF Fairford.
Even so, the suspects were arrested by local police only after a resident of the area called a police hotline at 12:45 a.m. and reported a suspicious encounter with five men traveling in vehicles near the air base.
Because of its long, heavily reinforced runway, RAF Fairford serves as one of the main air bases for Global Strike Command, which manages the U.S. bomber fleet.
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