LONDON (AP) — British police said Tuesday they have re-arrested two men suspected of helping Iranian intelligence services in a alleged plot at US airbase in England last month.
Counter-terrorism police said the men, a 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old dual British and Iranian national, were arrested under the National Security Act.
One of the suspects was first arrested on September 27, during the alleged plot against the US base at RAF Fairford. The air base in western England was used to bomb Iran during this year’s war.
The second suspect was first arrested on October 1. Until Tuesday, the men had been released on bail pending further investigation.
Many residents were evacuated from their homes near the base as armed police and army bomb disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Police later said they found a quantity of accelerant – gasoline – in three vans at the site, but no explosives.
British authorities linked Tehran to the incident, leading the United States to fires its bombers from RAF Fairford. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the apparent plot was “almost certainly” led by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC.
Iran has denied any involvement, although it has previously said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.
Five other men in their 20s were arrested earlier and later released on bail pending further investigation. No one has yet been charged.
Laurence Taylor, head of the UK’s National Counter-Terrorism Police, said detectives were examining “many lines of inquiry involved in this extremely complex investigation”.
“This is a live investigation, and our evidence collection continues, but at this time our position remains the same; we consider it very likely that there is Iranian state involvement,” he said in a statement.
“Our investigators continue to examine what this level of involvement was and the ambition behind it,” he added.
Last week, the head of the British spy agency MI5 warned that Iran and Russia were widening their attacks on the UK and that the RAF base incident was not unique.
Ken McCallum, who heads Britain’s domestic security service, said Tehran was seeking to step up its attacks in Britain beyond traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country’s Islamic authorities.
In total, more than 50 people have been arrested over the past year for Iran-related plots, McCallum said.
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