Burnham points to Iran link in RAF Fairford arrests as five bailed

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday there are strong indications that Iran played a role in the events that led to the arrest of five men near RAF Fairford on Sunday night.

Burnham spoke to the media at the end of the Labour party conference in Liverpool. He said he could not give more details amid an ongoing police investigation. He confirmed he had held a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee while in Liverpool.

The five men are all in their 20s and from London. They were first arrested on explosives charges and then on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. All five were released on police bail on Monday after examination of the vans and searches of linked London addresses, according to The Guardian.

Burnham said the release was with the strictest possible bail conditions. He said he has complete confidence in the way British security services are handling the case. He said there was not an urgent need to recall parliament over the incident but he would not hesitate if that arose.

British police said they were investigating whether individuals acting for a foreign state were involved in an apparent plot to attack an airbase used by the United States, Reuters reported. U.K. counterterrorism police were understood to be investigating a potential link with Iran after an alleged bomb threat against an air base hosting U.S. forces. RAF Fairford has been used by U.S. planes for missions against Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington believed a foreign actor was involved in the Sunday night events. Rubio said he was disturbed by the decision to release the five men.

The initial alert came from two separate calls. A local woman driving home called police after seeing a series of vans and masked men near the base. One of the five men arrested also called the police to report the incident, according to Reuters.

At the same Labour conference, Ed Miliband addressed foreign policy in his conference speech. He said "we will stand up to prevent a nuclear Iran through economic sanctions."

The broader context here is the collision of domestic counterterrorism procedure with alliance management. London has followed standard sequence: arrest under initial powers, re-arrest under terrorism legislation to extend detention, then conditional bail while forensic work and searches continue. Washington is reading the same sequence for signal. Rubio's public unease about bail and his foreign-actor assessment put pressure on Burnham to name a direction of inquiry without prejudicing a live case. That explains the calibrated language in Liverpool.

Looking at what this means for the next steps, three questions will shape the diplomacy. First, whether police and prosecutors move from investigation of foreign-state involvement to formal attribution or charges. Second, whether the Cobra process produces protective measures for U.S.-used facilities in Britain, a portfolio that sits with Defence Secretary Wes Streeting. Third, whether economic sanctions, as articulated by Miliband, remain the stated instrument for constraining Iran or whether the Fairford inquiry widens the options under discussion between London and Washington.