NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Five men arrested on Sunday near a key US bomber base in the UK may have planned a “complex” and coordinated attack with potentially far-reaching security implications for US military installations around the world, a former US intelligence official warned. As counterterrorism police investigated after officers detained the suspects near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a former Pentagon official also said President Donald Trump will ultimately be the one to decide the consequences if the “trail really leads to Tehran.” Britain’s Explosives Act before being arrested on terrorism charges in connection with the airfield, a key center of the US Air Force and the main European base for US strategic bombers. On Sunday, Trump said US authorities had been monitoring the suspects before their capture. FORMER UK PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR WARNS EUROPE ‘WE WILL NOT WIN’ IN WAR WITHOUT US SUPPORT Cordon near the village of Whelford in Gloucestershire, near RAF Fairford on Sunday, September 27, 2026. (Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images) “We had them under investigation,” Trump told reporters in Chicago. “They sought to cause great damage to our fort.” “It may have been Scotland Yard. I don’t know. We worked with a lot of them. We had them in our sights for a long time and we got them,” Trump added. According to Sky News, counter-terrorism police were investigating whether Iran is linked to the alleged bomb plot. Former Trump White House official Morgan Murphy told Fox News Digital that British authorities are leading the investigation along with U.S. authorities and intelligence services. “But since American airmen and bombers appear to have been targeted, Air Force investigators at the base, the FBI in London and American intelligence will likely work on the case.” “If conclusive evidence shows that Iran is behind an attempted attack on US forces, the US president will ultimately decide how Tehran pays,” Murphy added. STATE-LINKED GROUPS INCLUDING IRAN’S IRGC A US Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber lands on the runway, past a USAF Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber, at RAF Fairford in southwestern England on March 9, 2026. (Henry NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images) The former Intelligence Agency official Defense Secretary Andrew Badger told Fox News Digital that the number of suspects and vehicles involved raised the possibility of a sophisticated operation. “We’re going to see heightened security protocols across Europe, across the UK and across the world for any US installation,” he said. “This is a very significant threat and again, given that we had five people involved and three different vans at the scene, this could have been a very complex and highly orchestrated operation,” Badger added. “This is not just some kind of amateur lone wolf operation,” he said, noting Fairford’s strategic importance to the U.S. military. “Fairford is also where the United States hosts its strategic bombers for Europe and the rest of the world.” He said a potential attack posed wider risks beyond the airfield itself, which he said “could have had significant security implications. It could have damaged the nearby area.” US bomber base in the UK on Sunday. (Reuters) “They could have tried to use a VBIED or a vehicle-borne explosive device where the first van could have blown up at the front door, and then the other vans would have gone in and tried to go after the strategic bombers,” Badger said. British authorities have not publicly identified who they believe was behind the alleged plot or announced a motive, but RAF Fairford had taken on greater strategic importance during the war with Iran. The UK government had previously authorized US forces to use Royal Air Force bases Fairford and Diego Garcia. for limited defensive operations, including the destruction of Iranian missiles and launchers at their source. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later warned that any base used to attack Iranian territory would be considered a legitimate target. “Any base used to launch attacks on Iranian territory is a legitimate target for our forces,” the IRGC reportedly said. “Tehran warned London in July to keep US bombers away from Fairford, and if this plot is traced back to Iran, the response must be more bombers, not fewer,” Morgan said. IRAN EXPERT MARKS ENGLAND’S ISLAMIC CENTER IRAN’S ‘UK OFFICE’ URGES IMMEDIATE SHUTDOWN Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Chief Justice of Iran Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and IRGC Commander General Mohsen Rezaee attend a ceremony in Tehran, Iran, on July 3. 2026. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images) A local councilor told Reuters there had been a recent security alert in Fairford and that surveillance had been stepped up. “So about six weeks ago there was a specific threat from the Iranians at this base. At that time, there was heightened surveillance around the area,” he told the outlet. Badger, however, cautioned against assuming that Iran was responsible and pointed to other potential threats. There are other actors too,” Badger added. “But there is Russia, which has been launching a gray zone campaign or hybrid warfare attacks across Europe, as well as Islamic extremists, who are still a significant threat here in the UK.” “Was this some kind of retaliation by Iran to perhaps try to gain influence or try to inflict a cost on the US withdrawing from these negotiations? Again, we don’t know for sure, but it’s a possibility,” Badger said. RAF Welford, a major US munitions storage facility that primarily supports operations at RAF Fairford. US EMBASSIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST WARN AMERICANS OF ‘UNFORESEEN ESCALATION’ AS LATEST ATTACKS HIT IRAN Members of the US military unload equipment from a US Air Force C-5 Galaxy at RAF Fairford in southwestern England on March 6, 2026. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has given his approval for Washington to use the Diego Garcia bases in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in southwestern England to bomb Iranian missile sites, after several Gulf countries were targeted in Iranian retaliation. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images) “RAF Welford is actually the second largest weapons and ammunition depot in all of Europe,” Badger said, noting that the facilities where the United States stores ammunition “could also have been a target.” “Other bases across Europe, including European and American partners, have already been on a heightened state of alert,” Badger continued. There will be more frequent security patrols.” “There are reports that RAF Fairford has been placed on what is called Delta alert, which is the highest security alert status within the military base system,” Badger said. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP “So this is basically ‘an imminent terrorist attack is coming’,” he concluded. Emma Bussey is a breaking news editor for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the night team at USA, in areas including foreign affairs, politics, news, sports and culture.
