LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham says the U.K. has “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident that saw five men arrested near a U.S.-run air base in England late at night.
Burnham told British broadcasters on Wednesday that British and American officials are carrying out a “complex and serious” investigation into how five men and three vans came to be near the perimeter of RAF Fairford.
Five British men in their 20s
were arrested Sunday on suspicion of explosives offenses and planning an act of terror, before being released on bail a day later. Police say they found a quantity of an accelerant – gasoline – in the vans, but no explosives.
Burnham did not provide details about what the suspects were planning or why the U.K. thinks Iran was involved. He said he would “update people more in due course.”
“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation,” Burnham told the BBC in one of a series of broadcast interviews. “And of course, we are working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America.”
Iran has denied involvement.
The base 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.
Top U.S. officials have criticized the decision to grant the suspects bail, with President Donald Trump saying “I wouldn’t have done that" and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying a lot of people were “disturbed” by the move.
Burnham said authorities have the investigation under “the strongest grip and the closest control,” and British officials had been “talking to counterparts in the United States all week to explain what is happening here, how things are being done.”
“I have complete confidence in the way British security services are handling this,” he told the BBC.
Laurence Taylor, the head of British counterterror policing, said Tuesday that the suspects remain under investigation and the decision to grant bail was grounded in “experience and strategy.”
He said a line of inquiry is whether the suspected offenses were committed by “proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”
