Rubio says ‘foreign actor’ behind RAF Fairford incident

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that an incident near RAF Fairford over the weekend “clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor,” as British police investigated whether five men arrested near the air base were acting on behalf of another country.

“What happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a very serious situation,” Rubio said in an interview on Fox News. “We are dealing with elements in the world and in the case of Iran, for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interest globally.”

President Donald Trump questioned the decision to grant bail to the five men, who were arrested Sunday on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offenses in a village in rural England just minutes from the air base used by American bombers to strike Iran.

“I’m surprised that they released them, I wouldn’t have done that,” Trump told reporters on Monday, adding that the incident “might be” linked to Iran. On Sunday, Trump said the men were looking to do “big damage to our fort,” without elaborating.

But days after the arrests, key details remain unclear, including whether the men had explosives and what led up to the arrests.

U.S. President Donald Trump, on Monday, questioned U.K. authorities' decision to grant bail to five men suspected of terrorism and explosives offenses near RAF Fairford. (Robert Trujillo/U.S. Air Force)

According to British authorities, a local farmer called police after witnessing masked men running from three suspicious white vans parked along a wooded country road in Wheldon shortly after midnight Sunday.

The five men, all British nationals from London in their early 20s, were arrested shortly thereafter. The base and surrounding area had already been on high alert, local residents have reported.

The men were released Monday and are “subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others,” Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, a senior counterterrorism police official, said at a briefing Monday.

British police are investigating whether the men were acting either knowingly or unknowingly on behalf of a foreign state to attack the air base, Taylor said.

In a statement Monday, Iran’s embassy in the U.K. said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” any attempt to link Iran to the incident.

Rubio said Monday that U.K. authorities “have been very cooperative and helpful.”

“I know a lot of people are disturbed” that the suspects were released on bail, he said. “We’re engaging with them on all of that.”

Britain’s defense secretary, Wes Streeting, said Monday, the farmer who phoned police “was not the only person to raise concern.”

“I can provide reassurance … that the police and the security services have done everything they could and should have done” to contain the situation, he said Monday, according to Sky News UK.

Citing a source familiar with the investigation, Reuters reported Monday that an Iran-linked motive was the most likely, while Russian sabotage and Islamist-linked violence were also being examined.

Britain’s national news agency, PA, reported, without citing sources, that police had not found viable explosives.

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer is parked at RAF Fairford, England, July 15, 2025. The U.K. authorized the U.S. to use the country's air bases for strikes against Iran in February. (Robert Trujillo/U.S. Air Force)

The U.K. authorized American forces to use the country’s air bases to strike Iranian missile sites after the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Feb. 28. U.S. forces have used Fairford as a staging point during the war for long-range bombers, including the B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress. British officials have characterized the strikes as defensive and permitted under international law. Iran has named RAF Fairford a legitimate target for retaliation.

Security at RAF Fairford remains high, with armed police at checkpoints talking to drivers and checking cars on approach roads, the BBC reported Tuesday.

The news agency posted a Reuters photo of a B-1 Lancer bomber taking off from the base Tuesday morning.