Israel provided Britain with intelligence about a suspected terror plot near an RAF base used by the United States, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Thursday, as Iran once again denied any role in the incident.
The Israeli prime minister said UK authorities were warned about what he described as an “Iranian-sponsored attack” shortly before Britain announced a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
His comments followed claims by Andy Burnham that there were “strong indications that Iran played a part” in the incident. The prime minister did not elaborate on the evidence behind the assessment.
Five men were arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Sunday on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences. They were released on bail the following day.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Netanyahu said: “You talked about the thing in Britain. Do you want to hear how absurd things are there and how far the anti-Israeli propaganda has gone?”
“We gave the Brits the intelligence that there was going to be an attack, and it’s an Iranian-sponsored attack, and pretty much the next day they slapped sanctions on us. On us.”
He added: “It’s wild. The caving in, the collapse before the Islamist-Marxist alliance is very dangerous for the future of the West.”
Mr Netanyahu offered no further details, but appeared to indicate that the UK Government received the intelligence before announcing its restrictions on trade.
Britain’s decision last month to impose the measures, in response to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, triggered a diplomatic dispute between London and Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel had given Britain intelligence about a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford
Five men were arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire early on Sunday
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is pictured at the United Nations headquarters in New York last week
A police robot detonates the doors of one of the vans discovered near the RAF base
A fireball erupts from the back of one van before a large cloud of smoke rises
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Mr Burnham was “barking up the wrong tree” over claims of possible Iranian involvement and condemned the decision to bail the suspects.
Writing on X, he said: “PM Burnham says the UK Government ‘can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part’ in the RAF Fairford incident.”
Mr Araghchi continued: “I can confirm Iran’s belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
RAF Fairford has been used in recent months by US bombers launching strikes against Iran. Any possible link to Tehran remains a key line of inquiry for investigators, particularly because Iran has previously relied on proxies to carry out operations in Britain.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned in July that any military base used to launch attacks against the country would be considered a legitimate target.
The warning came after Iran’s ambassador to London, Seyed Ali Mousavi, said allowing US bombers to operate from RAF Fairford had become an “important matter for our self-defence”.
But Iran’s London embassy has fiercely denied any involvement in Sunday’s incident.
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Mr Burnham told GB News yesterday: ‘There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend. It is, though, still an ongoing and very serious police investigation.’
He added: ‘Obviously, I’ve been dealing with this as I’ve been here in Liverpool [for the Labour Party Conference]. We have held a Cobra meeting here. We are completely on top of things, but will say more when we can.’
Asked about the bail, Mr Burnham told the BBC: ‘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.
‘The authorities have this under the strongest grip and closest control, and I can assure you of that.’
One of the three vans near RAF Fairford had ‘Fuel 2You’ printed on its exterior in red text
The ‘Fuel 2You’ branding raised suspicions the men may have been transporting fuel
The three white vans are investigated by a robot after the alleged plot near RAF Fairford
A van belonging to the real company ‘Fuel 2U’ – in no way linked to the RAF Fairford incident
The announcement of the sanctions last month, in response to the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, sparked a diplomatic row between the Israeli and UK governments.
On Sunday, the farmer who alerted the authorities said one of the three vans in the incident had lettering on the side which appeared to be fake. It carried branding for ‘Fuel 2You’ – unrelated to a real fuel delivery company, Beaconsfield-based ‘Fuel2U’.
It has also been noted that the phone number beneath the company name – 0742 418 2599 – was spaced in a format predominantly used in Iran.
Others pointed out how it was odd to use a red logo for a business supplying fuel, when the colour of petrol pumps in the UK is green. In Iran, the colour is red.
It comes as a video showed the moment a police robot blasted the doors off one of the vans near the base. The clip, exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail, was captured on a resident’s security camera.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that one of the five men arrested over the plot called police before they were detained.
The suspect phoned around an hour before a farmer said she called 999 at 1.36am on Sunday after discovering three vans blocking a road near the base.
The five British nationals, all in their mid-20s, and from London, were subsequently arrested.
It has also emerged that petrol, but no explosives, was found in the vans which sparked the security alert in the village of Whelford.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the suspected plot ‘clearly involves the hand of a foreign actor’, but refused to provide further details. Donald Trump also said the alleged plot ‘might be’ linked to Iran.
Head of UK counter-terrorism policing, assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, said the vehicles have been examined, adding: ‘We can confirm that no improvised explosive devices have been found. We have found a quantity of an accelerant, petrol.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch yesterday urged Andy Burnham and his Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to show ‘a bit more seriousness’ over national security.
She said: ‘These are extremely concerning developments. I have been very vocal about how I believe that we need to focus more on national security.’