A 25-year-old dual U.K.-Iranian man arrested over suspected preparations for terrorist acts near RAF Fairford has been released on bail as police continue investigating a security incident involving a U.S.-run air base.
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A 25-year-old dual U.K.-Iranian man arrested in London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts near RAF Fairford has been released on bail, authorities said.
Police said the arrest came after a security incident at the U.S.-run military air base in England, with the man taken into custody on Thursday and released on bail as detectives investigate.
Authorities said the investigation began with six people taken into custody, and that the other five were not named by police. They said the remaining suspects are British nationals in their 20s from London.
British authorities have linked the incident to Tehran. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the U.K. has “strong indications” that Iran played a part, without providing further details about what the suspects were planning or why the U.K. believes Iran was involved. Iran denied involvement, and has said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.
In the early hours of Sunday, scores of residents were evacuated from homes near the base as armed police and army bomb-disposal experts responded in the rural area. Police later said they found a quantity of an accelerant, gasoline, in three vans linked to the five suspects, and that no explosives were found.
RAF Fairford, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) west of London, has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.
U.S. officials criticized the decision to grant bail, with President Donald Trump saying “I wouldn’t have done that,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying many people were “disturbed” by the move.
The arrests were reported against a backdrop of heightened concern about threats from hostile states. British security services said Russia and Iran have both used proxies to commit crimes on U.K. soil, and that national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025.
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