British police arrested five suspects near a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in the UK on Sunday, which has reportedly been used by the United States for military operations against Iran. US President Donald Trump confirmed that these suspects had been under investigation for some time. “The operation was successfully carried out in cooperation with the UK. We had them under surveillance and investigation,” Trump told reporters. “They were planning significant damage to our military base, but thanks to the joint efforts with the British side, we apprehended them.”
The information indicated that three suspicious vehicles were heading towards the base near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, located in the southwest of England. Armed forces took the men into custody near the village of Fairford. Initially arrested under suspicion of bomb-related activities, they have since been charged under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act for preparing terrorist acts.
According to British counterterrorism official Vicky Evans, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team conducted a search, leading to a 400-meter cordon around the vehicles. Taking security precautions, approximately 85 households in the area were relocated to safe locations. RAF Fairford is the main forward operating base for the US Air Force in Europe, hosting the US 501st Combat Support Wing and the 420th Air Base Squadron. In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had warned that US B-1 bombers operating from RAF Fairford would make any military base used for strikes on Iranian territory a “legitimate target.”
