DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
British authorities say they foiled a suspected terror plot near an airbase in western England. It's one of the bases the U.S. military has been using to launch attacks on Iran. That's prompted speculation about a possible connection to the conflict in the Middle East. For the latest, let's go to NPR's Lauren Frayer in London. Hi, Lauren.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Hi, Debbie.
ELLIOTT: What do we know about what British police are saying about this plot they foiled?
FRAYER: So it appears to have involved three vehicles. Police say they got a call just before 1 a.m. local time about suspicious vehicles heading towards RAF Fairford. That's the Royal Air Force Base Fairford in Gloucestershire - western side of England. Police say they intercepted the vehicles and arrested five men. Now, aerial footage shows a bomb disposal robot maneuvering around three white vans on this tree-lined road. It shows the robot's arm sort of probing the side of one of the vans. Police evacuated homes in the area. Here's what the temporary chief constable of Gloucestershire police, Maggie Blyth, told reporters today.
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MAGGIE BLYTH: A cordon remains in place around the vehicles. And around 85 households are currently unable to return to their homes.
FRAYER: Police say those residents will not be allowed to return home tonight. Some are being housed in a local leisure center, like a community center. President Trump was asked about these arrests, and he said, quote, "working with Britain, it was an amazing job." He also said, we had them under investigation - they were looking to do big damage. Now, police have not revealed the suspects' identities, nor whether they were known to authorities or under any kind of surveillance.
ELLIOTT: Now remind us what the connection is to the U.S. military at that base.
FRAYER: Yeah. So RAF Fairford is one of the bases that the British government has long allowed the U.S. to use. The British government opposes the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran but has allowed the U.S. military to use British bases for what it calls defensive attacks on Iran. And Fairford has attracted a lot of attention because of this. I mean, members of the public often gather there to see these big American bombers roll down a runway in the otherwise bucolic Cotswolds.
RAF Fairford has also attracted protesters because of that. Polls show most Brits do not support the Iran war, in part because of how it's led to higher gas prices here. And so, initially, there was speculation that these arrests may have been protesters doing vandalism at the base. But then police came out and said that they've arrested these suspects under both the Explosives Act and the Terrorism Act. And Iran has actually threatened to attack these bases.
ELLIOTT: How so? What has Iran said?
FRAYER: So back in July, Iran's IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, issued a statement saying that any base used against Iran is a, quote, "legitimate target," and that, quote, "London is responsible" (ph) if it assists U.S. attacks on Iran. Now, British police say they are investigating whether these suspects have links to Iran. They say that's only one of the possibilities they're looking at. The British government has, in the past, accused both Iran and Russia of plotting attacks on British soil. We've seen Iran retaliate against U.S. allies in the Gulf. You know, if this is confirmed as an Iranian attack on America's British allies - and we should caution, that's a big if; police are not saying that yet - it would mark a big widening of the Middle East conflict.
ELLIOTT: That's NPR's Lauren Frayer in London. Thank you.
FRAYER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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