{ "archive_path": "archive/1790589808.944514", "base_url": "www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss", "basename": "terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know", "bookmarked_date": "2026-09-28 10:03", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.aljazeera.com", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know@traffic_source=rss.html" }, "domain": "www.aljazeera.com", "extension": "", "hash": "1326WV2VE2T26AEB24V8", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.aljazeera.com" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:30.869426+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:30.383395+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:31.351357+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:30.877679+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:40.342472+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:37.392820+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmp7lhotfpe", "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:37.380959+00:00", "index_texts": [ "British security officials are exploring \u201cmultiple lines of enquiry\u201d following the arrest of five men on Sunday morning on suspicion of the \u201cpreparation of a terrorist act\u201d near a British Royal Air Force (RAF) base in southern England that has been used by the United States in various conflicts.Armed officers arrested the group of men after calls from residents to emergency services reported three \u201csuspicious vehicles which appeared to be travelling towards the air base\u201d, London\u2019s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Mike Waltz: US offered to sell Iran uranium for civilian programmelist 2 of 3Why has Trump rejected Iran\u2019s peace proposal?list 3 of 3\u2018Iran ready for doomsday war\u2019, FM Araghchi saysend of list\u201cCounter Terrorism Policing can now confirm they are leading an investigation into an incident which took place overnight near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire,\u201d the police added.Later, in a statement on Monday, the counterterrorism police said the five arrested men were all British nationals aged between 23 and 25.Calling the incident \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d, United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham said his government would take \u201cevery step necessary\u201d to protect the public.Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on Monday the incident was \u201ca reminder of the threats our country faces\u201d.\u201cI want to thank our security services, armed forces and police for the work they did yesterday and they do all year round to help keep our country safe,\u201d he said, addressing a crowd in Liverpool at the Labour Party conference.\u00a0\u201cWe will always stand up for our security against those who would do us harm.\u201dHe said the UK must be prepared to \u201cconfront\u201d all security threats facing Europe and the world, adding: \u201cWe will act against the proxies of Iran.\u201dIran, however, rejected suggestions of its involvement, describing them as \u201cfabricated speculations\u201d aimed at fuelling \u201cIranophobia propaganda in the UK\u201d.Here\u2019s what we know about the incident:What is RAF Fairford?Based in Gloucestershire, RAF Fairford is a British military base that hosts the United States Air Force\u2019s 501st Combat Support Wing.It is one of 12 UK bases, including RAF Lakenheath, which hosts the largest US force group in the UK, and RAF Mildenhall, which supports refuelling and global operations.The Fairford base was also used by US forces during their attacks on Iran amid the ongoing conflict, during which they deployed B-1 and B-2 bombers from the facility.In March, then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer granted permission for \u201cdefensive\u201d US action against Iranian missile sites from two UK bases, including Fairford and Diego Garcia, in the British Indian Ocean Territory.What happened?On Sunday, Gloucestershire police said they received a call about \u201cthree suspicious vehicles\u201d travelling towards the base at 00:45 local time (23:45 GMT on Saturday).Broadcast aerial footage showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans, two of which had their rear doors open.Police believed the incident had been \u201ccontained\u201d and put a 400-metre (1,300-foot) cordon in place.A farmer who called 999 told BBC Radio 4 on condition of anonymity that she arrived home in the nearby village of Whelford to find the driveway blocked and saw a \u201clarge group of hooded and masked men\u201d.\u201cWhen they saw me, they ran ahead of me \u2013 some into the field and some towards the neighbouring village of Kempsford. I then realised that something highly unusual was taking place,\u201d she added.The woman told the BBC that she called the Ministry of Defence police at the airbase, but there was no answer; after calling 999 at 01:36 BST (00:36 GMT), she said, \u201cwithin 10 minutes the village was full of armed police\u201d.\u201cI am absolutely staggered that it was left to me as a member of the public to see and report this,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cSomeone really dropped the ball on this.\u201dAbout 85 households in the nearby village of Whelford were advised to evacuate. Those residents also spoke of \u201cheightened tensions\u201d in the area in recent weeks with frequent police patrols.The counterterrorism police have since taken over the investigation.What do we know about those arrested?In their statement on Monday, the counterterrorism police identified the arrested men as London residents: a 24-year-old from Camden, a 24-year-old from Westminster, a 25-year-old from Westminster, a 23-year-old from Westminster and a 24-year-old from Willesden.The five were arrested in Whelford on Sunday morning, the counterterrorism police said, on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act and the \u201cpreparation of a terrorist act\u201d.The men remain in custody, and police have not disclosed where they are being kept.When asked whether police were looking for more suspects in connection with the incident, Maggie Blyth, the temporary chief constable of Gloucestershire police, said she believed it was \u201ccontained\u201d.Still, the counterterrorism police statement said, \u201cthe nature of this investigation means significant numbers of resources, including military assets, remain deployed at the location\u201d in reference to the region around Whelford and RAF Fairford. \u201cWe are working hard to minimise disruption to local communities, but ask for their patience, as our work continues at the scene.\u201dThe cordon around the area remains in place, the statement added.US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the suspects were \u201clooking to do big damage\u201d at the airbase.\u201cWe had them under view for a long time, and we got them,\u201d he said, adding the US and the UK had been working together on the incident.Rob Geist Pinfold, an international security lecturer at King\u2019s College London, explained that under British law the identity of the men would not be disclosed unless they were charged.\u201cWe don\u2019t know anything about whether they\u2019re British nationals, whether they\u2019re foreign nationals, for example. And we also don\u2019t know what was in those vans,\u201d Pinfold told Al Jazeera.\u201cTrump\u2019s statement there suggests these men were under investigation as well. So, we don\u2019t know how much of this is simply a member of the public spotting something suspicious that sounds pretty inept or whether this is some sort of well-planned and poorly executed attempt to cause damage at Fairford,\u201d he added.How has Iran responded to the incident?The Iranian embassy in the UK, in a statement on X, rejected any link with the men arrested for the alleged plot to target RAF Fairford.\u201cThe Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets attempting to link Iran to arrest of five suspects in the vicinity of RAF Fairford base,\u201d the embassy said, before referring to the US and Israeli war on Iran to paint the country as a victim of foreign aggression.Are British authorities linking Iran to the incident?They are not \u2014 but they haven\u2019t ruled it out yet either.Tehran has previously said it would target US military bases that had launched attacks on Iran.Since February 28, when the US and Israel first launched their strikes on Iran, Tehran has targeted multiple military bases in the Gulf and the broader Middle East, including those in Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In early March, a loitering munition also struck an RAF base in Cyprus, where authorities claimed Iranian drones aimed at the base were also intercepted.Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting said on Sunday he had been in contact with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the UK was \u201cworking closely with our American friends\u201d.When asked whether Iran was involved, he said it would be \u201cirresponsible to speculate\u201d.British police have been cautious about attributing motive or responsibility for the foiled plot.\u201cThis is a hugely complex and large-scale operation, involving local and national policing, the MOD, and local agencies, who are working together to progress the investigation and support for the community,\u201d Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for counterterrorism police, said in a statement.\u201cI am very aware of the levels of speculation about the motivation behind this incident, and the geopolitical questions that are being raised. However, I ask that at this time, CTP are given the space to work carefully and clearly.\u201dWhat are the inconsistencies about the details behind the foiled plot?On Monday morning, Streeting thanked the resident who spoke to the BBC about reporting the masked men near the airbase, saying, \u201cShe has done exactly what we would hope that someone in that extraordinary situation would do.\u201d\u201cWith respect, though, she does only have a partial picture. And that\u2019s as far as I wish to go this morning,\u201d he said, without elaborating.Moreover, Trump\u2019s comments that the suspects had been under watch raise questions about how the masked men were able to get so close to the airbase and why they were foiled by a resident purely by chance." ], "output": "readability", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:35.613767+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "screenshot": [], "singlefile": [], "title": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:35.606908+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "Police probe \u2018terror\u2019 incident near RAF base used in Iran war: What we know | Military News | Al Jazeera", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:35.575101+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "wget": [ { "cmd": [ "wget", "--no-verbose", "--adjust-extension", "--convert-links", "--force-directories", "--span-hosts", "--no-parent", "-e", "robots=off", "--reject=js,mjs,woff,woff2,ttf,otf,eot,mp4,m4v,mov,webm,ogv,mkv,avi,flv", "--timeout=120", "--restrict-file-names=windows", "--page-requisites", "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) wget/GNU Wget 1.21.3", "--compression=auto", "--timestamping", "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss" ], "cmd_version": "GNU Wget 1.21.3", "end_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:35.563779+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know@traffic_source=rss.html", "pwd": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-28T13:42:31.360735+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ] }, "icons": null, "is_archived": true, "is_static": false, "latest": { "archive_org": null, "dom": null, "favicon": "favicon.ico", "git": null, "media": null, "pdf": null, "screenshot": null, "singlefile": null, "title": "Police probe \u2018terror\u2019 incident near RAF base used in Iran war: What we know | Military News | Al Jazeera", "warc": null, "wget": "www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know@traffic_source=rss.html" }, "link_dir": "/data/archive/1790589808.944514", "newest_archive_date": "2026-09-28T13:42:37.392820+00:00", "num_failures": 0, "num_outputs": 6, "oldest_archive_date": "2026-09-28T13:42:30.383395+00:00", "path": "/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know", "schema": "Link", "scheme": "https", "snapshot_id": "fcc2df22-6280-487d-8caa-c9a14f61117d", "sources": [ "/data/sources/1790589808-import.txt" ], "tags": ",war-wiki,pool,escalation", "tags_str": "war-wiki,pool,escalation", "timestamp": "1790589808.944514", "title": "Police probe \u2018terror\u2019 incident near RAF base used in Iran war: What we know | Military News | Al Jazeera", "updated": "2026-09-28T13:42:30.382962+00:00", "updated_date": "2026-09-28 13:42", "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/terror-incident-near-raf-base-used-for-iran-war-what-we-know?traffic_source=rss" }