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Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that a recent thwarted terror plot near a United Kingdom military base used by the United States involved a “foreign actor,” linking the incident to global threats from adversaries such as Iran.
“What happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a very serious situation,” Rubio told Fox News’ “Hannity” on Monday night. “It’s one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor.”
“I won’t get into great detail about that yet.”
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Rubio added there would be “repercussions” for threats against U.S. interests.
“I think it ties us to the reality here, and that is, we are dealing with elements in the world, and in the case of Iran, for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interests globally,” he continued. “We’re going to always take that very seriously. There will be repercussions for that, if it ever were to happen or even attempted.”
Rubio thanks the partners in the U.K. for helping thwart the “very series threat” of an attack.
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“I want to thank the U.K. for their cooperation and their help on it,” he said. “There’s a lot more news that will come out on this in the days to come. But there’s only so much I can say right now at this point about it, other than this was a very serious thing and it was responded to appropriately.”
British police declared a major incident at the RAF Fairford base in western England following the arrests early Sunday, and the government held a national emergency meeting.
Police, however, released the five on bail Monday, but said the investigation was not over and they were examining whether individuals acting for a foreign state were involved.
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President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that the incident “might be” connected to Iran, with which the United States is at war since late February, and that he would not have released the suspects on bail.
“I wouldn’t have done that,” he said.
A source familiar with the situation told Reuters that three large white vans the men appeared to travel in had not contained viable explosives.
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The Reuters source said Sunday’s police response had not been intelligence-led – an indication that the five were not under direct surveillance – but security had been beefed up at the base, suggesting there was information it was being targeted.
The five arrested are all British nationals in their early 20s from London. They were detained in the early hours on Sunday after police were alerted by a local farmer to the three white vans parked near RAF Fairford.
Local residents have said security was significantly beefed up at the base in the days leading up to Sunday. The local farmer told reporters that one neighbor, driving past the base on Saturday night, had been ordered by U.S. security personnel to stop and put their hands out of their car.
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The farmer, who asked not to be named, called the police after she returned home around 1 a.m. local time and found three large vans parked in the road, one with a fake telephone number on it, and a group of hooded and masked men running away.
A large cordon remained around the base Tuesday morning and roadblocks were in place, although local media reports said residents from nearby homes which had been evacuated were returning.
Western governments have warned in recent years of the threat of hostile actors from Iran, Russia and elsewhere organizing destabilizing activity or hiring proxies to carry out plots.
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Britain raised its national terrorism threat level to its second highest in April after a series of antisemitic incidents in north London, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.
It has also imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to Iran, accusing them of involvement in hostile activity including plotting attacks and providing financial services to groups seeking to destabilize Britain and other countries.
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Iran has denied involvement in attacks or plots in Britain and elsewhere, and Monday denied any involvement in the incident at Fairford.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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