RAF Fairford live updates: Streeting thanks farmer who alerted police but says she has ‘a partial picture’

Member of the public who contacted police after seeing ‘group of hooded and masked men’ near RAF base says she thinks ‘someone dropped the ball’ over incident

The incident comes as the war between the US and Iran limps on. In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps noted RAF Fairford’s use by US bombers, warning the UK that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.

Counter-terror police and the security services are searching for the motive. The circumstances of the arrest near the base and prior warnings from Tehran leave an Iranian motive high in the investigators’ and government’s thinking.