Britain’s counterterrorism police said Monday that five men arrested Sunday near an air base were being released on bail, an unexpected development in what officials originally said was a major incident involving a possible terrorist act. The five men were detained early Sunday near the perimeter of the sprawling RAF Fairford base in southern England. Nearby houses were evacuated while bomb-sniffing robots searched three white vans. Initially, authorities said the men were suspected of violating the Explosives Act and preparing to commit a terrorist act. Laurence Taylor, who heads Britain’s counterterrorism police, said in a brief statement to reporters on Monday afternoon that the men would remain under investigation and would be subject to “strict conditions on their movement and contact with others.” The disposal unit had been unable to find any evidence after examining the vehicles for more than 24 hours. Britain’s national security laws give authorities wide latitude in detaining terror suspects, so the decision to grant bail to the five men suggests police may not have found enough to link them to a specific act. British counterterrorism police have not identified the men, in line with police rules that guarantee anonymity unless a person is charged. The release of the men, who police said were all British citizens in their early 20s, came less than 24 hours after President Trump told reporters on Sunday that the suspects intended to cause “extensive damage” to the British air base. Trump praised the country’s police, describing their efforts as “fantastic” and “amazing,” and said of the men: “We had them under surveillance for a long time and we caught them.” Police in Britain did not confirm Trump’s suggestion that authorities in both countries had the suspects “under surveillance.” Taylor said he was aware of speculation about what might have been known beforehand, but told reporters, “I won’t always be able to share this kind of information.” On Monday, Trump said the men could be connected to Iran, but declined to elaborate, adding, “I know the answer. I can be very specific, but I’d rather not say.” He also expressed surprise at the decision to release the men. “I wouldn’t have done that,” he told reporters. “We know everything about them. We wouldn’t have released them.” Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham had urged people not to speculate. “The investigation is ongoing,” Burnham said. He called on British residents to allow police to “establish all the facts.” He later summoned members of his national security cabinet for a closed-door briefing on the status of the investigation. Public details about the incident remain murky at best. Investigators arrested the five men in the early hours of Sunday morning, and a bomb disposal robot spent most of Sunday cautiously examining three white vans as 85 families living nearby were evacuated from their homes. On Monday, armed police officers set up checkpoints on rural roads leading to the air base. And more than a day after police made the first arrests, the small village of Whelford, one of three on the outskirts of the base, remained completely cordoned off. A farmer told the BBC that she had called the police early on Sunday morning after seeing a large group of hooded and masked men in the fields near the base. The farmer, who the BBC did not identify, said she was shocked that it was up to her, as a member of the public, to see and report the men. His timeline appeared to conflict with the one provided by police. He told the BBC he called the local emergency number at 1.36am on Sunday. Police have said they received the first call at 12:45 a.m. and that the men were arrested shortly after. Wes Streeting, the British defense secretary, praised the farmer in an interview with BBC Radio on Monday morning, while suggesting that she had only a limited picture of what had happened. “I want to pay tribute to that member of the public for their vigilance,” he said. “She has done exactly what we would expect a member of the public to do in the situation she found herself in.” But he added: “Of course, you will only have had a partial view, and I don’t want to go any further and digress into operational and security details at this stage.” American bombers have carried out long-range strikes against the country from the base since the United States and Israel attacked in February. “If it is related to Iran, it could be hardliners trying to undermine the Iranian government’s efforts to negotiate a war settlement with the United States, or proxies like Hezbollah unhappy that Iran is not paying enough attention to their interests,” said Antonio Giustozzi, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a security think tank in London. Another possibility is that Tehran may have “Determined negotiations with Trump are going nowhere, despite recent Iranian concessions, and the pressure has to increase,” Giustozzi said. Taylor, the counterterrorism police chief, acknowledged widespread speculation about whether the men were connected to a hostile foreign country such as Iran or Russia. He declined to confirm that, but said police were “considering this from every possible angle, including the fact that this may be actively committed by representatives or individuals, whether knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.” activity, often on a small scale and committed by individuals whose primary goal is not terrorism but quick financial gain.” Iran’s Embassy in London said in a statement Monday that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” what it called “baseless and malicious speculation” that Iran was involved in the air base incident. Former Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially refused to allow the United States to use British bases to attack Iran, drawing Trump’s ire. But after Iran carried out drone strikes against British allies across the Middle East, Starmer changed course and said he would allow what he called “defensive” American strikes against Iran from Fairford. That sparked furious debate in Britain, including repeated protests near the base by activists opposed to the US-Israel war. Burnham, who replaced Starmer in July, quietly continued that policy. Prime Minister, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Britain that the government’s decision to allow attacks from one of its bases would make it “a legitimate target for our forces.” efforts to allow families to return as soon as possible. If Iran were linked to the incident near the British base, it would likely increase deep public skepticism about the war. In public polls, a large majority of the British public has said they do not support Trump’s decision to attack Iran. In a March poll, around three-quarters of respondents expressed concern about the impact of the war on Britain’s security. Specia contributed reporting from Fairford, England, and Adam Goldman contributed reporting from London.
