Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) blamed Iran after five men were arrested near a U.S.-operated military base in England, while a British minister publicly cautioned against racing ahead of the investigation.
“The simple answer is that clearly Iran was involved, but of course that is going to be investigated and determined,” Cammack told Laura Ingle on “NewsNation Live.”
The arrests followed an alleged terror plot involving RAF Fairford, the Royal Air Force base in southwest England that is owned by the United Kingdom and operated by the U.S.
Authorities in London were alerted early Sunday morning local time to three suspicious vehicles moving toward RAF Fairford, The Associated Press reported, citing the Metropolitan Police.
The nationalities of the five men have not been publicly released.
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President Donald Trump told reporters in Chicago that U.S. officials had worked with their British counterparts before the arrests.
“They were looking to do big damage to our fort and working with the British worked out great. … We had them under view for a long time and we got ‘em,” Trump said, according to NewsNation’s Libbey Dean.
Cammack pointed to RAF Fairford’s place in the U.S. military campaign against Iran as part of her argument.
The base has been used by American forces for strikes on Iranian missile sites, and Cammack called it the “forward deployment area of our assets” in the Iran war.
She then connected the alleged plot to Tehran’s relationships with Hamas and Hezbollah.
“So it stands to reason that through the proxy network that Iran has of Hamas and Hezbollah, that they probably were in coordination on this front because as Iran has been very publicly saying, they are ready for more confrontation and they have always operated through their terror networks rather than facing threats head on,” Cammack said.
Cammack described the arrests as a “testament to the relationship” between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, while also saying she was “grateful” for service members at RAF Fairford and law enforcement officers who took a “proactive” posture.
United Kingdom Minister Andy Burnham focused his public message on safety and restraint.
“The safety and security of the public is our first priority, and I want people to know that we will always take every step necessary to protect our communities and keep our country safe,” Burnham wrote Sunday on social media.
“The investigation remains ongoing, and I would urge people not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts,” Burnham added.
The RAF Fairford arrests landed inside a larger U.S.-Iran standoff involving military threats, nuclear demands, sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” that Iran was “fully prepared” for the conflict to resume if Trump orders new strikes after the November midterm elections.
“We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed,” Araghchi told Welker. “And I repeat, we stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war. But at the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose.”
Araghchi said Washington had “tested us in their aggression” and in diplomacy.
He also maintained that Iran’s seven-day offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and enter a ceasefire remained available after Trump rejected it.
Trump had already shut down that proposal at the White House on Saturday morning.
“I’m rejecting their deal,” Trump told reporters.
The terms would have reopened the strait and restarted nuclear talks.
The Associated Press reported that Tehran also sought an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, waivers on sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales and a Lebanon-wide ceasefire.
Trump framed Iran’s offer as a sign that the regime needed money flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again.
“They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump said. “You know you don’t read that, you don’t see that in the fake news. We’re winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait, massive amounts of oil are coming out of the Hormuz Strait.”
The president said almost ships had come through the previous night, but the deal still did not satisfy him.
“Last night we had 29 ships come out. They want to make a deal, and I think that’s fine, I like making a deal, too, but that deal would not be acceptable,” Trump continued.
Trump later put his nuclear demand in all caps on Truth Social. “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!!!” he wrote.
Araghchi defended Iran’s enrichment work as legal and said it served “certain” purposes, including “medical purposes [and] other purposes.”
Welker challenged him over Iran enriching uranium to 60 percent, a level she said was 20 times higher than what is needed to produce electricity, then asked whether Tehran would let the U.S. take its enriched uranium to end the conflict.
“We have removed any concern in our past negotiations,” Araghchi answered. “If there is still such a question, then why did they bomb us? Are they allowed to bomb anything that they think is illegal, or there is no justification for that? War is not a solution. That was a subject for negotiation, and we did it in the past.”
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Trump rejected the Iranian ceasefire proposal because Tehran wanted major concessions before giving ground.
“They were asking for everything up front,” Waltz told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Waltz said Iran sought relief from “billions and billions of sanctions” tied to Operation Economic Fury, along with United Nations snapback sanctions imposed over nuclear issues.
He argued that Iranian officials were misreading Trump if they believed politics was shaping the president’s decision.
“The president’s just not confident that the Iranians are coming in good faith, and … will truly negotiate the end of their nuclear program,” Waltz added.
