Local media has said US warplanes have been using RAF Fairford to conduct strikes against Iran.

The UK authorities have apprehended five men on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack outside RAF Fairford, an air base that also hosts US warplanes involved in strikes against Iran.

According to a statement by Gloucestershire Police Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone on Sunday, police received “a call relating to three suspicious vehicles travelling towards RAF Fairford.” Local media later described the vehicles as three white vans.

Officers arriving at the scene subsequently arrested five individuals near the village of Whelford “on suspicion of committing offenses under the Explosives Act,” with Counter Terror Police investigating what officials called a “major incident.”

The BBC published an unverified photo purportedly showing the arrested suspects sitting half-naked on the ground with their hands behind their backs and faces blurred.

A British Army bomb disposal unit was sent to examine the vehicles, and around 85 households were evacuated as a precaution, Ocone told reporters. UK media outlets have shown what appears to be helicopter footage depicting a specialized wheeled robot operating near the vans.

Local residents who have nowhere else to stay have been provided temporary shelter inside a leisure center.

Commenting on the incident in a post on X, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged “people not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts.”

Later on Sunday, Gloucestershire Constabulary’s temporary chief constable, Maggie Blyth, gave an update, saying the authorities believe the “matter to be contained.” She declined to reveal whether the police are looking for more suspects.

She added that local residents would not be able to return to their homes tonight.

Sky News reported that while there are so far no conclusions, police are looking into potential Iranian involvement in the suspected bomb plot, among several other lines of inquiry; Reuters published a similar report.

The US Air Force has operated out of RAF Fairford for decades, with heavy bombers stationed at the base, including bombers used in strikes against Iran.

In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement warning the UK specifically that “any base used to launch attacks on Iranian territory is a legitimate target for our forces.”

Commenting on the incident, a US military spokesperson told local media that the Pentagon is “working closely with our UK counterparts to monitor this situation.”

US President Donald Trump told reporters that the suspects “were looking to do big damage to our fort.”

“We had them under investigation… We had them under view for a long time, and we got them,” he said.

Westminster’s policy of pursuing a course toward wars, rather than addressing the NHS and Schools problems, continues to demonstrate the authorities’ complete incompetence.

The attempts of British working people to make an honest living run up against a wall of government lies and malicious warmonging.