UK believes Iran ‘played a part’ in foiled attack, Burnham says

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday his government believes that Iran “played a part” in the alleged thwarted attack on a U.S. air base in the United Kingdom earlier this week.

“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” Burnham told the BBC , referring to the air base about 90 miles west of London in the county of Gloucestershire.

“We will say more in due course, but we can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part,” he added.

He did not give further details as to what evidence his government had found to support such a conclusion, though Tehran has strongly denied any involvement in the incident.

British authorities on Sunday arrested five men on explosives and terror charges near RAF Fairford after a local farmer called police over three suspicious vehicles and men wearing masks near the base late Saturday night.

Police later said the vehicles did not contain any explosives and the men, all five of whom are British nationals in their 20s, were released on bail a day later on Monday.

It was also found that one of the men had dialed the police himself, nearly an hour before the farmer called authorities.

President Trump has criticized the British government for its decision to release the men on bail, telling reporters Monday he was “surprised that they released them,” adding, “I wouldn’t have done that.”

Trump also has contradicted British officials in insisting the U.S. government worked with the U.K . in arresting the suspects, telling reporters Sunday the men were “under view for a long time.”

Questioned about why police had released the suspects on bail, Burnham told the BBC that the men were subject to strict conditions.

“I think people need to understand that when it says released, that isn’t as people might think. It’s obviously with the strictest possible bail conditions,” he said. “The authorities have this under the strongest grip and closest control, and I can assure you of that.”

The prime minister added that his government has been “talking to our counterparts in the United States all week to explain what is happening here, how things are being done,” and he said he has “complete confidence in the way British security services are handling this.”

“Of course it remains an ongoing, complex and serious police investigation, and of course we are working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America,” he added.

Burnham’s comments follow those from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said Monday that the incident at RAF Fairford “clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor.”

American B-52 and B-1 bombers have taken off from RAF Fairford as part of the U.S. military campaign against Iran . The air base in southern England is owned by the U.K. and operated by American forces.

Tehran in July threatened that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces” raising fears across Europe of a terrorist attack during the now seven-month conflict.

But the Iranian Embassy in the U.K. said in a Monday statement that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” regarding the Islamic Republic’s potential role in the incident.