Why Did Trump Get Angry About Britain's Release of Suspects in the 'Fairford' Incident?

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the United Kingdom's handling of a suspected "terrorist" plot targeting the British "Fairford" airbase used by the U.S. military, expressing his "surprise" at the release on bail of the five suspects on Monday. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump stated that he would not have released the suspects, noting that their actions "could be" linked to Iran, but he declined to elaborate, simply saying: "I know the answer. I could be very specific, but I prefer not to disclose it."

The British anti-terror police stated on Monday that the release of the men "does not mean the investigation is over," and that they "will be subject to strict restrictions regarding their movements."

There was no immediate response from the British government to Trump's statements, while the Afaq News network contacted the British Ministry of Defence for a comment. For its part, Iran denied any involvement in the incident.

The men - whose identities have not been disclosed - were arrested on Sunday near the base in western England, which is used by U.S. B-1 bombers to carry out missions against Iran. According to the anti-terror police, all five are British citizens from the London area, aged between 23 and 25 years old.

Lawrence Taylor, a senior official in the anti-terror police, stated that the police are examining the incident from all potential angles, "including the possibility that the act may have been carried out by agents or individuals acting - whether knowingly or unknowingly - on behalf of a foreign state." British Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a meeting of the "Cobra" committee, which is responsible for dealing with emergencies, on Monday.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmoud stated that by Monday afternoon (local time), the "site is now secure," with a security cordon still in place around three vehicles found at the scene. The police also informed around 85 families who were evacuated from the area on Sunday that they could return to their homes on Monday.

British authorities did not disclose the location where the men are being held, nor what was found inside the three small white vans believed to have been used by them. Aerial footage taken on Sunday showed a bomb disposal robot moving between the vans in an area near the base, with the back doors of two of those vans open and large black items scattered on the ground nearby.

Later, teams from Afaq News in the area heard what appeared to be the sounds of two controlled explosions coming from the direction of the village where the vans were found. Following a meeting of the emergency committee, Defense Minister Wes Streeting stated that investigations are still ongoing, adding that "the five individuals are subject to strict conditions for their release on bail." "The Iranian threat" Iran had previously denied any involvement in the incident; its embassy in London issued a statement on Monday expressing its "strong condemnation of the recent unfounded and malicious speculation published by certain figures and British media in an attempt to link Iran to the detention of 5 suspects in the vicinity of the RAF Fairford base."

The Iranian embassy has not yet commented on Trump's statements. In response to a question about whether a hostile foreign state was behind the incident, the British Defense Minister said on Monday that he did not want to "speculate at this stage of the investigation."

In July, the Iranian "Revolutionary Guard" specifically referred to the use of Fairford base by American bombers, warning the United Kingdom that "any base used to launch aggression against Iranian territory is considered a legitimate target for our forces." On Sunday, Trump described the arrests as "fantastic," noting that the United States and the United Kingdom had been investigating these men for a "long time."

Trump told reporters in Chicago: "It was an amazing operation in cooperation with Britain. They were planning to cause significant damage to our base, and the cooperation with the British yielded excellent results," he added: "We had been monitoring them for a long time, and we succeeded in capturing them."]

British authorities did not comment on this claim, and it is also unclear whether the five men were under surveillance before arriving in the Fairford area in the early hours of Sunday.