British Prime Minister Andy Burnham says the U.K. has “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident that saw five men arrested near a U.S.-run air base in England late at night.
Burnham did not provide details about what the suspects were planning or why the U.K. thinks Iran was involved. “And of course, we are working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America.
Burnham told British broadcasters on Wednesday that British and American officials are carrying out a “complex and serious” investigation into how five men and three vans came to be near the perimeter of RAF Fairford. He said he would “update people more in due course. “There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation,” Burnham told the BBC in one of a series of broadcast interviews. Top U.S. officials have criticized the decision to grant the suspects bail, with President Donald Trump saying “I wouldn’t have done that” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying a lot of people were “disturbed” by the move. Burnham said authorities have the investigation under “the strongest grip and the closest control,” and British officials had been “talking to counterparts in the United States all week to explain what is happening here, how things are being done. Laurence Taylor, the head of British counterterror policing, said Tuesday that the suspects remain under investigation and the decision to grant bail was grounded in “experience and strategy.”
