Rubio: Thwarted UK Terror Plot Involved 'Foreign Actor,' Linked to Iran

Sen. Marco Rubio confirmed that a recent thwarted terror plot near a United Kingdom military base used by the United States involved a "foreign actor," linking the incident to global threats from adversaries such as Iran.

"What happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a very serious situation," Rubio told Fox News' "Hannity" on Monday night. "It's one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor."

Rubio added that there would be "repercussions" for threats against U.S. interests. "I think it ties us to the reality here, and that is, we are dealing with elements in the world, and in the case of Iran, for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interests globally," he continued. "We're going to always take that very seriously. There will be repercussions for that, if it ever were to happen or even attempted."

Rubio thanked U.K. partners for helping to thwart the "very serious threat" of an attack. "I want to thank the U.K. for their cooperation and their help on it," he said. "There's a lot more news that will come out on this in the days to come. But there's only so much I can say right now at this point about it, other than this was a very serious thing and it was responded to appropriately."

British police declared a major incident at the RAF Fairford base in western England following the arrests early Sunday. Police subsequently released the five individuals on bail, but stated the investigation was ongoing and they were examining whether individuals acting for a foreign state were involved.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that the incident "might be" connected to Iran and stated he would not have released the suspects on bail. A source familiar with the situation told Reuters that the three vans used by the men did not contain viable explosives.

The five arrested individuals are all British nationals in their early 20s from London. They were detained early Sunday after police were alerted by a local farmer to three white vans parked near RAF Fairford. The farmer told reporters that one neighbor had been ordered by U.S. security personnel to stop and place their hands out of their car while driving past the base on Saturday night.

Western governments have warned in recent years about the threat of hostile actors from Iran, Russia and elsewhere organizing destabilizing activity or hiring proxies to carry out plots. Britain raised its national terrorism threat level to its second highest in April after a series of antisemitic incidents in north London. Iran has denied involvement in attacks or plots in Britain and elsewhere, and on Monday denied any involvement in the incident at Fairford.