US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a foreign actor was involved in a foiled bomb plot targeting the UK’s RAF Fairford airbase on Sunday, in an interview with Fox News on Monday night.
Rubio declined to clarify exactly which foreign actor was involved.
“Suffice it to say that what happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a very serious situation. It’s one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor,” Rubio said.
Separately, he stated that Iran had “openly threatened to attack American interests globally. We’re going to always take that very seriously. There will be repercussions for that if it ever were to happen or even attempted.”
The Fairford airbase is used by both US and UK forces and was used by the US to launch attacks on Iran.
Rubio also said that many were “disturbed” by the news that the five suspects arrested in connection with the plot were released on bail.
Trump says US would not have released suspects
US President Donald Trump said that he was “surprised” that the UK had released the suspects, saying that the US would not have released them while speaking to reporters on Monday.
When asked if the incident was connected to Iran, Trump said that it “might be,” but that he would not clarify further.
“I know the answer. I can be very specific. But I’d rather not say. But I would not have released them,” he said.
“There’s a lot more news that will come out on this in the days to come,” Rubio promised. “But there’s only so much I can say right now at this point about it, other than this is a very serious thing. And it was responded to appropriately.”
