U.K. police make seventh arrest in RAF Fairford probe as U.S. officials link bomber pullout to Iran-backed drone threat

British counterterrorism police arrested a 22-year-old British man in London on Tuesday, the seventh arrest in their investigation into suspicious activity near RAF Fairford, the Gloucestershire air base from which U.S. bombers have flown missions against Iran. Counter Terrorism Policing said the man was detained in the Borough of Westminster on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, and that a property in the same area was searched. No one has been charged, the BBC reported.

“This remains a live investigation and our specialist teams continue to pursue multiple lines of enquiry into the circumstances surrounding events near RAF Fairford,” said Vicki Evans, the senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing. “We’re acutely aware of the public interest in this investigation, and we are working around the clock, and at pace, to identify the motivation behind events in Gloucestershire.” Police appealed to anyone with information to come forward.

The case began in the early hours of Sept. 27, when police stopped three vans reported to be heading toward the base and detained five men aged 23 to 25. A major incident was declared and dozens of homes were evacuated as armed officers and army bomb-disposal teams moved in. Police later said they found a quantity of gasoline, an accelerant, in the vans but no explosives, The Associated Press reported. A sixth man, a 25-year-old dual Iranian-British national, was arrested in Westminster on Oct. 1. All six have been released on bail while the investigation continues. Media reports in Britain said one of the first suspects had alerted authorities, which police have not confirmed, DW reported.

Over the weekend, the U.S. pulled its bombers out of the base, and the Pentagon said all American bombers there had been sent back to their home bases in the U.S., according to AP. Citing U.S. and British officials, The New York Times, in a report published by The Irish Times, said all 12 B-1 bombers were withdrawn after commanders received new information about a potential drone attack ordered by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, part of a wider plot to strike aircraft and kill some of the several hundred Americans stationed at Fairford. Some officials said the plan was loosely modelled on Ukraine’s 2025 operation in which drones smuggled into Russia on trucks hit strategic bombers on their runways. The move was so rushed that some planes left while refuelling aircraft were still being deployed, the Times reported.

A U.S. official told AP the administration believed the aim was to kill as many American troops and destroy as many U.S. planes as possible. President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that there had been a threat. “There were some threats. And rather than tempting the enemy, we’ll capture the enemy and beat the enemy,” he said, according to the BBC. “But why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit. Not very far.” Vice-President JD Vance said the bombers were moved “out of an abundance of caution.” DW reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio played down specific threats, and a spokesperson for U.S. European Command said it would be “inappropriate to discuss matters of intelligence,” according to the BBC.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said Britain sees “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident, without explaining why, CBS News reported. His spokesman, Tom Wells, declined to comment on other countries’ military operations but insisted the base is safe. Iran has denied involvement. It has previously said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target, and in July the Revolutionary Guard warned that letting the U.S. use Fairford “makes London responsible” for American actions, the Times reported. Trump criticized the decision to release the first suspects on bail, CBS said.

Britain allowed the U.S. military to use Fairford for what London called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and launch sites after Iranian attacks on British interests and allies in the Gulf, and American B-1 and B-52 bombers have flown from there during the war, AP reported. British officials say national security cases involving hostile states, including Iran, rose 50 per cent in the six months to December 2025, and that Iran-linked proxies have been behind a string of arson and other attacks in Britain, many aimed at the Jewish community. According to the Times, Israel has also warned Germany that U.S. bases there, notably Ramstein and Spangdahlem, face a heightened risk.

Sources: Counter Terrorism Policing (Oct. 6, 2026); BBC News; The Associated Press via WRAL; The New York Times via The Irish Times; CBS News; DW.