LONDON (AP) — British authorities are examining suspected explosives found near an air base in England used by the U.S. Air Force and whether five men arrested on terrorism suspicions — but later released on bail — are linked to Iran.
The suspects were detained shortly after midnight on Sunday after police stopped three vans traveling toward RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including the ongoing Iran war.
Investigators have not concluded whether the incident is a state-backed attack. They are investigating a possible link to Iran, Russia or militant groups. Iran has denied involvement.
Details about the case are still emerging. Here's what we know — and don't know — about what happened:
Counterterror police said Monday that the five suspects are British nationals from London between 23 and 25 years old.
It's not clear why they were released on bail Monday. The head of U.K. Counter Terrorism Policing, Laurence Taylor, said that the suspects face stringent bail conditions and “absolutely remain under investigation.”
Taylor said lines of inquiry include that the suspected offenses were committed by “proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”
A local farmer told reporters she called emergency services after she found three vans blocking a road in the nearby village of Whelford. Later, dozens of households near the base were advised to evacuate while bomb disposal robots were used to examine the vans.
The air base houses the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force’s 501st Combat Support Wing and is a forward operating location for the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command. Fairford was used during the 1990 Gulf War, the 2003 Iraq war and the U.S.-Israeli bombardment of Iran this year.
Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said the motive is not yet known. But he added: “We shouldn’t be cowed by saber rattling from Iran, and we shouldn’t be in any doubt that the Iranian regime is one that wishes harm to our country, our allies, and the freedom and democracy that we enjoy.”
Iran and allied militant groups have been accused of plotting or carrying out attacks on U.S., British and Jewish targets in the past, allegedly acting through local proxies while denying responsibility.
Nigel Inkster, a senior adviser at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who formerly worked at the British Secret Intelligence Service, said Iran is known to have hired “low grade,” untrained proxies to commit crimes in the U.K. on its behalf. But it's not clear “what sort of threat these people posed,” he said.
“Was it a homegrown undertaking or one that was sponsored internationally, especially Iran? Were the devices sophisticated or crude? We have no idea,” he said.
“Driving three vans up to an air base with a perimeter doesn’t strike me as a particularly clever way to cause significant damage,” he added.
Iran's embassy to the U.K. condemned what it said were “unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets” linking it to the suspected plot.
It's unclear when security services became aware of the alleged plot and whether there were any lapses that allowed the suspects to get so close to the base.
U.S. President Donald Trump praised the response, telling reporters: “We had them under view for a long time, and we got them.”
“They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great,” he added.
Some residents have told British media that they noticed an increase in security near Fairford in recent weeks, suggesting authorities may have anticipated an incident there.
However, British police have said the arrests were triggered by a late-night call about suspicious vehicles near the base.
The farmer who called the police said she saw a group of about eight or 10 men, some with their faces covered, run away when they spotted her car. She said it took several hours between the call and when police “suddenly decided to evacuate people.”
“But meanwhile, those vans were right in the middle of the village next to everyone’s houses and no one did anything,” said the farmer, who declined to be identified because she was describing what she saw as potential security lapses.
Streeting, the defense secretary, said Monday that the farmer only had a “partial picture” of what’s been happening. He didn't elaborate, saying he was limited in what he could say regarding operational security.
Police officers guard a road leading to RAF Fairford, after an incident in Fairford, England, Monday Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Police officers guard a road leading to RAF Fairford, after an incident in Fairford, England, Monday Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Police guard a road leading to RAF Fairford, in Fairford, England, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP/Alastair Grant)
SpaceX launched its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time Monday and successfully delivered the most advanced Starlinks yet, but cut the flight short to ensure safety.
The spacecraft reentered over the Pacific and splashed down north of Hawaii three hours after blasting off from Texas. The company had been aiming for a 10-hour flight, spanning six full laps around Earth, to prove its readiness for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
Starship tipped over and erupted in flames upon splashdown, a dramatic end to the mission.
Founder Elon Musk's Starship almost didn't make it to orbit when one of its engines shut down too soon. But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.
“Starship is orbital,” Mission Control announced to cheers.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on reaching orbit and “managing every step in a safe, responsible and especially inspirational way.”
Musk’s showpiece rocket — the biggest and most powerful ever built — carried 26 of the latest Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service. They popped out of the spacecraft one by one, drawing more cheers from the SpaceX crowds looking on from the launch site at Starbase, Texas.
The decision to end the flight early came soon afterward. No reason was provided.
It was Starship’s 14th full-scale launch from Texas’ southern tip in three years. The earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.
This time, SpaceX was intent on circling the globe from an altitude of 170 miles (275 kilometers) — not just once but six times over almost 10 hours, ending with a Pacific splashdown near Chile. While Starship achieved the proper orbit zipping along at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph), flight controllers opted to play it safe and bring it back several hours sooner, after just a couple laps.
The first-stage booster was never meant to return to the Starbase launch site either, instead dropping into the Gulf of Mexico within minutes of the morning liftoff.
SpaceX wants to ensure that everything works before flying Starship back to Starbase. If the spacecraft breaks apart over land and rains debris onto people, “our popularity would diminish very rapidly,” Musk said at a business summit earlier this month. “That’s why we’re being extremely cautious here.”
Depending on the findings from Monday's orbital debut, the next Starship could return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft. If the catch works — Musk gives it even or slightly better odds — then SpaceX will refly the spacecraft by year’s end or early next year.
The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was designed from the start to be fully reusable — a key to lowering launch costs. SpaceX managed to salvage the last Starship from the Indian Ocean in July. Engineers modified the newly launched Starship’s heat shield based on hands-on inspections from the recovered spacecraft, which is being tugged back to Starbase.
SpaceX is pressing hard to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step toward moon and Mars travel.
NASA’s Artemis III mission is coming up as soon as next summer, a triple-launch docking exercise in orbit around Earth between an Orion capsule full of astronauts and competing lunar landers. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon will blast off first, then Orion — which will close in for a linkup — then Musk’s Starship for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon is unleashed.
The next mission — Artemis IV slated for no sooner than 2028 — would have astronauts landing on the moon in either Blue Moon or Starship, whichever is ready first. Subsequent moonshots will alternate between the two billionaires’ landers.
Musk originally developed Starship for Mars, intending to launch scores of them with the red planet’s first settlers. For now, he plans to focus on the moon and use Starship to haul satellites into orbit by the truckload, phasing out the company’s frailer Falcon 9 rocket within several years. A second Starship launch site is nearing completion at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and a third is planned for Louisiana.
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SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A man watches at sunset as SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Seagulls fly near the site of SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
David Orr camps out near the site where SpaceX's mega rocket Starship, behind right, is preparing for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
David Orr rides his bike past SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
