British counter-terrorism police arrested a 27-year-old dual Iranian-British citizen over a suspected plot at a key U.S. air base in England, and officials now say Iran played a part.

Officers detained the man in Westminster on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, an offense under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006. The arrest is the sixth tied to a bomb alert at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a base that hosts American heavy bombers and recently supported strikes against Iran.

Breitbart reported that police also searched two properties in Westminster and questioned a 26-year-old British citizen under caution as the probe widened. Five other men arrested earlier near the base were released on bail.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said overnight there is a “strong indication” the Iranian government was involved. U.S. officials described the same picture: a foreign actor aiming to hit a shared military asset on British soil.

Fairford locked down after the bomb alert

RAF Fairford sits in Gloucestershire and functions as a de facto U.S. Air Force hub for strategic bombers, including B-52s and B-1s. The base played a central role earlier this year in Operation Epic Fury, the campaign of strikes against Iran.

Plane-spotters noticed a sharp security shift on the Saturday before the alert. The base moved to force protection level “Delta,” the highest posture and one rarely seen. An earth-mover blocked perimeter gates. Armored cars patrolled the fence line. Aircraft were dispersed across the installation.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, a bomb alert hit the base. Armed officers arrested five men nearby. Construction crews later ringed the main gate with concrete barriers as security tightened again.

Reuters reported the tip-off involved three suspicious vans heading toward the air base. President Donald Trump said London and Washington had watched the suspects for a “long time” and that the men were looking to do “big damage” to the installation.

Trump called the arrest “fantastic” and “an amazing job,” adding that joint work with the British “worked out great.” The early surveillance and coordinated takedown fit a pattern seen in other disrupted plots against American targets, including cases where the FBI moved on an alleged ISIS-inspired bombing scheme before it could advance.

Burnham and Rubio name a foreign hand

Burnham thanked Gloucestershire police and counter-terrorism units for what he called an outstanding job. He then went further on Iran.

"We have been waiting to confirm what we could say, but we can now confirm our belief that Iran played a part. I will update people more in due course, but just at this moment I want to thank Gloucestershire police, the counterterrorism police, for the outstanding job that they’ve done."

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the incident “clearly involved the hands of a foreign actor.” U.S. Ambassador to Britain Warren Stephens stressed the working relationship the next day.

"Proud of the excellent collaboration with UK authorities on the situation near RAF Fairford. In the face of threats from hostile actors, our two countries are working together to keep our citizens safe, at home and abroad."

That kind of cross-border work has mattered in other recent cases where plotters targeted officials or institutions and faced real consequences, as when a Massachusetts woman who plotted to kill the Treasury secretary drew a multi-year prison term.

Police call the inquiry hugely complex

A counter-terrorism policing spokesman said the investigation is “hugely complex” and that specialist teams are examining “all possible angles including foreign state involvement.”

The New York Post noted Britain’s Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, Vicki Evans, described the same sprawling picture around the Gloucestershire events and the foreign-state line of inquiry. Five British men in their 20s, first held near the base on terrorism and explosives suspicions, were later released on bail without charge while the wider probe continued.

No full identities have been released for the 27-year-old dual national, the five men earlier detained, or the 26-year-old questioned under caution. Police have not publicly detailed the precise conduct behind the “preparation of terrorist acts” allegation, or what the bomb alert itself involved.

Still, the operational picture is not that of a lone amateur. Fox News reported that former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Andrew Badger pointed to multiple suspects and vans as signs of a potentially sophisticated effort, not a simple one-off. He warned the episode could signal a wider threat to U.S. military installations.

Fairford’s role as the primary European base for U.S. strategic bombers raises the stakes. A successful strike there would have hit both British hosts and American airpower on the same patch of ground. Federal cases at home have shown how cells and inspired actors can draw long sentences once charged and convicted, including the Texas antifa terrorism case that closed with hundreds of combined years.

Joint surveillance paid off before the vans arrived

Trump’s account puts the Sunday arrests at the end of a long watch, not a last-minute scramble. British and American services had the suspects “under view” and moved when the threat closed on the base. The five initial arrests came near Fairford; the sixth came in London as searches hit Westminster properties.

Concrete barriers went up at the main gate as the latest arrest landed. The base had already scattered aircraft and sealed gates after the Saturday shift to Delta. Those steps followed intelligence of a specific and imminent threat.

Hostile-state plotting against shared bases is not abstract. It is vans on the road, a bomb alert before dawn, and a dual national held on a terrorism-preparation statute. Other American arrest cases this season, from graphic threats against members of Congress and the president to large fraud roundups, show the same basic requirement: identify early, move fast, and keep the public record clear. One recent example is the Ohio man charged over threats to behead a congressman and kill President Trump.

Open questions remain. Authorities have not released charging documents, case numbers, or a full public account of the evidence behind Burnham’s statement on Iran. The status of the man questioned under caution is unclear. No injuries or damage from the alert itself have been described.

What is on the record is straightforward. A dual Iranian-British national is in custody on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. Five others were held and bailed. A U.S.-used bomber base went to maximum protection. Britain’s prime minister and America’s secretary of state both pointed to a foreign hand, with Burnham naming Iran.

When a hostile government targets a bomber base on allied soil, joint intelligence and hard arrests are the minimum response, not a debate about whether the threat is real.