2 men rearrested in U.K. on suspicion of assisting Iran over suspected plot at a U.S.-run air base

LONDON — British police said Tuesday they have rearrested two men on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service over a suspected plot at a U.S.-run air base in England last month. Counter Terrorism Policing said the men, a 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old dual U.K.-Iranian national, were arrested under the National Security Act. One of the suspects was first arrested on Sept. 27, when the suspected plot against the U.S.-run base at RAF Fairford took place.

The air base in western England has been used to bomb Iran during this year’s war. The second suspect was first arrested on Oct. 1. Until Tuesday the men had been bailed pending more investigation. Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes near the base as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans at the site, but no explosives.

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident, which led the U.S. to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the apparent plot was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC. Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target. Five other men in their 20s were arrested earlier, then released on bail pending further investigation.

No one has yet been charged. Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the U.K., said detectives are looking at “many lines of enquiry involved in this hugely complex investigation.” “This is very much a live investigation, and our evidence gathering continues, but at this time our position remains the same; we consider it highly likely that there is Iranian state involvement,” he said in a statement. “Our investigators are continuing to examine what that level of involvement was and the ambition behind it,” he added.

Last week the head of Britain’s MI5 spy agency warned that both Iran and Russia were expanding their attacks against the U.K. and that the RAF base incident was not unique. Ken McCallum, who leads the U.K.’s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country’s Islamic authorities. In all, more than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year, McCallum said.