British police have arrested a 22-year-old man in London on suspicion of a terror offence over a security incident at RAF Fairford, a US military base in western England that has been used by American bombers in strikes against Iran.Counter Terrorism Policing said on Tuesday that the British national was detained in Westminster, central London, and that officers had searched a property in the area. He remains in custody.The arrest is the seventh in the investigation into the suspected plot. Six men arrested previously, including a British-Iranian dual national detained on October 1, have been released on bail under investigation.“This remains a live investigation and our specialist teams continue to pursue multiple lines of enquiry into the circumstances surrounding events near RAF Fairford,” senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing Vicki Evans said, according to news agency Reuters.Evans added that detectives “continue to pursue multiple lines of enquiry” and “remain committed to investigating all possible angles.”The investigation began after five men were detained shortly after midnight on September 27 following reports of three suspicious vans travelling towards RAF Fairford. Armed police and army bomb-disposal experts were deployed, while scores of residents living near the base were evacuated.Police later said they found a quantity of an accelerant – gasoline – in three vans linked to the suspects, but no explosives.A sixth suspect, a British-Iranian dual national, was arrested several days later in central London on suspicion of plotting a terror attack. All six previously arrested suspects have since been released on bail.Laurence Taylor, head of UK counter terrorism policing, said the suspects face stringent bail conditions and “absolutely remain under investigation”.British authorities have said there are indications that Iran may have been involved. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK sees “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident, but did not provide details about what the suspects were allegedly planning or why Tehran was believed to be involved.Taylor said investigators were examining whether the suspected offences were committed by “proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”Iran has denied involvement. Its embassy in the UK condemned what it described as “unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets” linking Tehran to the suspected plot.The incident has also drawn attention in Washington. US president Donald Trump said a threat linked to Iran had prompted the removal of American B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford. He said those behind the threat “would be linked to Iran”, but offered no details.“We had a threat, and if we’re going to be threatened, we would just move them, and that sort of alleviates that,” Trump said.US vice president JD Vance said the bombers were removed “out of an abundance of caution”.“We do feel with some confidence that the Iranians are, you know, they’re trying to do what the Iranian state has done for 49 years, which is engage in acts of terrorism against the United States and against a lot of other people as well. So, we are being extremely cautious,” he said.US secretary of state Marco Rubio, however, downplayed a direct connection between the bomber redeployment and the British investigation, saying: “It’s not unusual to see rotations happen and moving into the different parts of the world based on exercises.”
