LONDON (AP) — British police on Tuesday arrested a 22-year-old man in London on suspicion of a terror offense over a security incident at a U.S.-run military air base in England that authorities have linked to Iran.
The arrest is the seventh in connection with a suspected plot against RAF Fairford, located 100 miles west of London, which has been used by American planes to strike Iran during this year’s war.
Police have released few details of their investigation into an incident that sparked speculation and concern — and was followed days later by the removal of U.S. bombers from the base.
Five British men in their 20s were detained near the perimeter of the base in the early hours of Sept. 27, and a 25-year-old British-Iranian man was arrested in London on Thursday. All six have been released on bail under investigation.
Counter Terrorism Policing said a British national was detained Tuesday in the Westminster area of central London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.
Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, said detectives “remain committed to investigating all possible angles.”
“We’re acutely aware of the public interest in this investigation, and we are working around the clock, and at pace, to identify the motivation behind events in Gloucestershire,” she said.
Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swooped on the rural area late at night. Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans linked to the five suspects, but no explosives.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the United Kingdom saw “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident, without saying why or what the nature of the suspected plot was.
Iran has denied involvement, but it has previously said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.
The U.K.-owned base has been used by American B-1 and B-52 bombers during the ongoing Iran war. The British government allowed the U.S. military to use RAF Fairford for what it called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.
The United States moved its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford on Sunday, and the Pentagon said all American bombers at the facility had been redeployed to their home bases in the U.S.
It’s unclear whether the move is connected to the arrests. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he didn’t want to tempt “the enemy” by having the bombers there.
“We had a threat, and if we’re going to be threatened, we would just move them, and that sort of alleviates that,” he said in Washington. He said that the people who made the threat “would be linked to Iran,” but he didn’t offer details.
British officials have declined to comment on reports that the bombers were moved because of fears of a drone attack on the base.
The prime minister’s spokesman, Tom Wells, said Monday he was “not going to comment on foreign nations’ military operations.” But he insisted that RAF Fairford is safe.
