US’s Marco Rubio says UK airbase incident involved ‘foreign actor’

Washington’s top diplomat calls the suspected plot ‘a very serious situation’ after five were arrested over the weekend.United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said a “foreign actor” was involved in a suspected bomb plot near an airbase in the United Kingdom used by the US military.Police arrested five men, all British nationals from London, in their early to mid-20s, on Sunday after being alerted by a local farmer about three white vans driving towards RAF Fairford, a British base that houses US bombers flying missions against Iran.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4UK police release suspects on bail after RAF arrests, investigation ongoinglist 2 of 4UK releases suspects as Iran denies role in alleged plot on base used by USlist 3 of 4Police probe ‘terror’ incident near RAF base used in Iran war: What we knowlist 4 of 4Five arrested on ‘terrorism’ charges in UK near base used to strike Iranend of listThe counterterrorism police said on Monday they were investigating whether individuals were acting for a foreign state in an apparent plot to attack the airbase. They later said the suspects would be released on bail.Commenting on the suspected plot and arrests on the Hannity programme on Fox News late on Monday, Rubio said, “What happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a very serious situation.”“It’s one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor. I won’t get into great detail about that yet,” he added.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had said in July the Fairford base was a legitimate target.Iran’s embassy in London said in a statement on Monday it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” that it was involved, which it said would fuel “Iranophobia propaganda” in the UK.Trump said on Sunday the UK and the US had had the suspects “under investigation” for a while and alleged, “They were looking to do big damage to our fort.”After hearing news that suspects were being released on bail, Trump said on Monday the case “might be” linked to Iran but declined to elaborate.