The ruling means detectives now have until 27 October to question the 24-year-old British national and the 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national — nearly a month after the night that brought armed police, bomb disposal teams and an evacuation to the village next to America's bomber base in Britain.
UK counter-terrorism police have been given more time to question two men re-arrested over a suspected Iranian-linked plot near RAF Fairford, the US bomber base in Britain. A court today allowed the 24-year-old British national and the 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national to be held until 27 October.
A warrant of further detention was granted at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. It means the two men, both from the London borough of Westminster, can be detained without charge for up to seven days from their re-arrest.
They were re-arrested on Tuesday, 20 October, on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service under Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023. Counter Terrorism Policing said the investigation relates to Iran and that Iranian state involvement is "highly likely."
"This is very much a live investigation, and our evidence gathering continues, but at this time our position remains the same; we consider it highly likely that there is Iranian state involvement."
The 24-year-old was first arrested on 27 September near the Gloucestershire base; the 25-year-old was arrested on 1 October in Westminster. Both had previously been released on police bail, along with five other men who remain on bail. No one has been charged.
The probe follows an incident in the early hours of 27 September, when police were alerted to three suspicious vehicles near RAF Fairford. A major response was launched, homes were evacuated, and a quantity of petrol was found, but no improvised explosive devices. Seven men in total have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
RAF Fairford is no ordinary airfield. The Gloucestershire base is operated by the US Air Force and is America's bomber base in Europe — the airfield from which US B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers have operated in recent months, including during this year's war with Iran. Earlier this month, the United States pulled every one of those bombers out of Fairford and sent them back to their home stations in America, partly because of a reported threat of a possible Iranian drone attack, American officials told Sky News' US partner network NBC. President Donald Trump later told reporters outside the White House that "threats" led to the decision to remove the bombers.
The charge the two men were re-arrested under marks a shift in the investigation. Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023 makes it an offence to assist a foreign intelligence service in the United Kingdom. The men were originally held in September on suspicion of explosives offences and then of preparing a terrorist act; the re-arrests put the suspected foreign hand behind the incident — not just the incident itself — at the centre of the case.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of national counter terrorism policing, said investigators are still working through what Tehran's role may have been. "Our investigators are continuing to examine what that level of involvement was and the ambition behind it," he said. "We know the public have unanswered questions. I want to be as transparent as possible and when we are in the position to share more, we will." Tehran has denied any involvement in the incident.
For now, the position is this: seven men arrested, five on bail under investigation, two back in cells until 27 October, and no charges against anyone — while police say it is highly likely that a foreign state, Iran, was involved in whatever was planned near the fence of America's bomber base in Britain.