london —
British counter-terrorism police said on Tuesday that they had re-arrested two men in an investigation into last month’s attack at Britain’s Fairford Air Force Base, where American B-1 bombers were based.
A 24-year-old British citizen and a 25-year-old dual British-Iranian national have been re-arrested on suspicion of assisting Iranian foreign intelligence, police said.
“To date seven men have been arrested in connection with our investigation,” counter-terrorism police chief Lawrence Taylor said in a statement. “As a result of the continued efforts of our personnel, two of them were re-arrested earlier today on charges of crimes related to Article 3 of the National Security Law, namely aiding and abetting foreign intelligence services.”
“While this is very much a live investigation and we continue to collect evidence, our position remains unchanged at this time. We believe the involvement of the Iranian state is very likely,” Taylor added. The remaining five are currently out on bail. Police have not released their names.
In late September, British authorities announced the first arrests of five men on charges of explosives offenses and “suspects of preparing terrorist acts” near RAF Fairford, a Royal Air Force base long used by the US Air Force. Army bomb squads and police swarmed the area and evacuated civilian housing around the base.
Earlier this month, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the alleged plot targeting Air Force Fairford was “almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.” Iran categorically rejected this accusation.
US President Donald Trump praised the arrests at the time, telling reporters that the US was cooperating with Britain and that the arrested men were planning to cause “significant damage” to Fairford Air Force Base.
“We’ve been watching it for a long time, and we’ve figured it out,” Trump said. Sources said U.S. intelligence agencies had been tracking plans by Iranian groups to target U.S. assets at the base in the weeks prior to the arrest.
Residents near Fairford Air Force Base may also have tipped off authorities. One resident, who requested anonymity, told CNN that he called police after seeing three vans surrounded by eight to 10 masked men blocking his driveway.
British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting thanked the woman who made the emergency call in an interview with Sky News. He said she only had a “partial photo” and did not provide further details.
Development at the base did not end there. Days after the first arrest, the United States removed all long-range bombers from Fairford Air Force Base following unspecified threats, a source said.
At the time, President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance implied that threats to U.S. assets prompted the move.
“I think you can say that. I mean, they didn’t take off by chance,” Trump said. “There were some threats. Instead of luring the enemy, you capture the enemy and defeat the enemy. But why leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit.”
Vance said the move was taken “out of an abundance of caution” and suggested it was in response to a potential threat from Iran, although he did not elaborate on specific concerns.
As of Tuesday, no U.S. bombers had returned to Fairford.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
