The government believes that Iran played a part in the RAF Fairford incident which resulted in five men being arrested and then bailed, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.
“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” he told the BBC. He did not provide further details. Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.
Burnham’s comments come after it emerged that one of the five men had dialled 999 himself before the group were arrested.
Asked why the suspects had been released on bail – a decision which has been openly questioned by President Donald Trump – the prime minister insisted the men were subject to the “strictest possible bail conditions” and added that UK authorities “have this under the strongest grip and closest control”.
But Burnham said: “I think people need to understand that when it says released – that isn’t as people might think. It’s obviously with the strictest possible bail conditions.
“The authorities have this under the strongest grip and closest control, and I can assure you of that.”
Burnham’s comments come after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the incident at RAF Fairford “clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor”.
SuppliedIn an interview with Fox News on Monday, Rubio said “I think it ties us to the reality here, and that is we are dealing with elements in the world, and in the case of Iran, for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interests globally”.
Burnham said that the government had been “talking to our counterparts in the United States all week to explain what is happening here, how things are being done”, and that he had “complete confidence in the way British security services are handling this”.
“We will say more in due course but we can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part,” he told the BBC.
“Of course it remains an ongoing, complex and serious police investigation, and of course we are working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America,” Burnham added.
The five men in question were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after police were alerted to “three suspicious vehicles” in Whelford, a village which lies directly east of the base.
They are all UK nationals aged between 23 and 25. Four of them live in Westminster and one in Camden, and searches of their homes are now complete.
The men were released on bail in what police described as an “investigative decision” that was “grounded in experience and strategy”.
Police said a quantity of petrol but no explosive devices were found during searches of the vans.
The RAF base has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force for decades.
In recent months, US bombers have taken off from the base for the Middle East, after the UK approved a US request to use it for what it called defensive strikes on Iran.
In July, Iran said “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.
However, the Iranian embassy in London has said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” any “unfounded and malicious speculations” linking Iran to the latest incident.
