Five men arrested near a critical U.S. bomber base in Britain were seeking to inflict major damage, President Trump said, and a former intelligence official warns the plot signals elevated danger for American military sites worldwide.
British counterterrorism police arrested five men near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Sunday after reports of suspicious vans approaching the airfield, a primary European hub for U.S. strategic bombers.
Authorities first held the suspects under Britain’s Explosives Act, then arrested them on terrorism charges tied to the base. A major incident was declared. Armed officers manned a cordon near the village of Whelford as bomb disposal teams examined vehicles and residents from 85 nearby homes were evacuated inside a 400-meter perimeter.
The Washington Examiner reported the base hosts U.S. heavy bombers used in strikes against Iran, placing the arrests against a backdrop of heightened regional tension.
President Donald Trump told reporters in Chicago that U.S. authorities had tracked the suspects for an extended period and worked with British partners to stop them.
“We had them under investigation,” Trump said. “They were looking to do big damage to our fort.”
He added: “It may have been Scotland Yard. I don't know. We worked with a lot of them. We had them under view for a long time, and we got them.”
Breitbart reported British counterterrorism police are examining a possible Iranian connection tied to American use of Fairford in operations against Iran, while stressing the inquiry remains in early stages and could involve non-state actors.
Counter Terrorism Policing Senior National Coordinator Vicki Evans said five men remain in custody and that officers are coordinating with partners.
"We are in the early stages of an investigation, and five men remain in custody. As you would expect we are working closely with our partners to understand the circumstances of the incident."
Reuters reported an Iranian-linked motive is viewed as most likely, though Russian or Islamist plots are also under review. Iran had previously warned that any base used to launch attacks on its territory would be treated as a legitimate target.
According to reports cited in coverage, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated: “Any base used to launch attacks on Iranian territory is a legitimate target for our forces.”
A local councilor told Reuters that authorities had already faced a specific Iranian-linked threat about six weeks earlier and increased surveillance around the base at the time.
"So there was a specific threat about six weeks ago from the Iranians on this base. At the time, there was increased surveillance around the area."
British authorities have not publicly named the five men, identified a confirmed sponsor, or announced a motive. No completed attack occurred. No injuries were reported.
Fox News spoke with Andrew Badger, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official and Oxford lecturer on grey-zone warfare, who said the scale of the operation points well beyond a lone actor.
Badger noted reports of five individuals and three vans at the scene and described the episode as potentially highly orchestrated.
"This is a very significant threat, and again, seeing that we had five individuals involved and three different reported vans at the scene, this could have been a very complex, highly orchestrated operation."
“This isn't just some type of amateur lone wolf operation,” he said.
He outlined one possible method investigators will examine: a vehicle-borne explosive device used to breach the gate, followed by additional vans aimed at the bombers themselves.
"They could have tried to use a VBIED or a vehicle-borne explosive device where the first van could have gone off at the front gate, and then the other vans would have gone in and tried to go for the strategic bombers."
Fairford houses U.S. strategic bombers for Europe and beyond. Nearby RAF Welford, Badger said, is the second-largest weapons and ammunition depot in Europe and primarily supports Fairford operations. Damage at either site, he warned, could have carried serious security and local consequences.
Reports indicated Fairford was placed on Delta alert, the highest base security posture, signaling an imminent terrorist threat. Badger said other European and partner installations were already on elevated alert and will now tighten further with more frequent patrols.
"We are going to see elevated security protocols across Europe, across the U.K., and across the entire world for any U.S. installation."
Former Trump White House official Morgan Murphy told Fox News Digital that British authorities are leading the case alongside U.S. law enforcement and intelligence, including Air Force investigators on base, the FBI in London, and American intelligence services.
"Every phone, bank record and rental receipt will be run through British and American intelligence, and if the trail leads to Tehran, it will be found."
Murphy noted Tehran warned London in July to keep American bombers off Fairford. He said any conclusive proof of Iranian direction would leave the American president to decide the response.
"If conclusive evidence proves Iran is behind an attempted attack on U.S. forces, the American president will ultimately decide how Tehran pays."
“Tehran warned London in July to keep American bombers off Fairford, and if this plot traces back to Iran, the answer must be more bombers, not fewer,” Murphy said.
The U.K. government had previously authorized U.S. forces to use RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for limited defensive operations, including strikes on Iranian missiles and launchers. That operational role is central to why the base sits in the crosshairs of the current probe.
Investigators have not said whether explosives or weapons were recovered from the vans. The identities of the five men have not been released. Officials have not confirmed any foreign state’s direct command of the suspects.
Badger listed Iran, Russia’s grey-zone campaign across Europe, and Islamist extremists still active in Britain as actors worth examining. He framed Iranian retaliation or leverage-seeking after U.S. strikes as one possibility, not a settled finding.
"Was this some type of retaliation by Iran to perhaps try to gain leverage or to try to inflict a cost on the U.S. for withdrawing from these negotiations? Again, we don't know for sure, but it is a possibility."
What is established is narrower and more concrete: five men in custody, three vans under examination, a major cordon, mass local evacuations, a joint U.S.-British monitoring effort that Trump says ran for a long time, and a base critical to American bomber operations now operating under maximum alert.
Soft targets and forward bases have always drawn hostile interest. When a plot reaches the gate of a strategic bomber hub, the cost of delayed vigilance becomes impossible to ignore.
