Rubio confirms 'foreign actor' involved in UK terror plot

Secretary of State 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 on Monday night. "It's one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor."

"I won't get into great detail about that yet."

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Rubio added 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 the partners in the U.K. for helping thwart the "very serious threat" of an attack.

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"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, and the government held a national emergency meeting.

Police, however, released the five on bail Monday but said the investigation was not over, and they were examining whether individuals acting for a foreign state were involved.

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President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that the incident "might be" connected to Iran, which the United States has been at war with since late February, and that he would not have released the suspects on bail.

"I wouldn't have done that," he said.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters that three large white vans the men appeared to travel in had not contained viable explosives.

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The Reuters source said Sunday's police response had not been intelligence-led — an indication that the five were not under direct surveillance — but security had been beefed up at the base, suggesting there was information it was being targeted.

The five arrested are all British nationals in their early 20s from London. They were detained in the early hours on Sunday after police were alerted by a local farmer to the three white vans parked near RAF Fairford.

Local residents have said securit