United Kingdom sees 'strong indications' of Iran's involvement in incident at Fairford Air Base

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that there are "strong indications" of Iran's involvement in suspicious activity near a U.K. air base, in connection with which five people were arrested and later released on bail.

"There are strong indications that Iran played a role in what happened over the weekend at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Fairford," in southwest England, which is also used by the U.S. military in its war against the Islamic Republic, Burnham told the BBC.

The Iranian Embassy in London had previously stated that it "categorically" denies any involvement, "strongly" condemning speculation that Iran was involved in the incident.

Burnham's statements constitute the first official confirmation by British authorities that Iran may have played a role in the incident, in which three white vans appeared to be heading toward the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Fairford in the early hours of Sunday.

A local resident who called the police said she had seen a group of masked men near the vans, which were blocking a road in a village next to the military base.

The case was shrouded in confusion when British police released five British citizens on bail whom they had arrested on Sunday on suspicion of crimes related to explosives and terrorism.

After three days of investigations, including the involvement of a bomb squad, police reported on Tuesday that they had not found any explosives in the vehicles, but had recovered "a quantity of gasoline."

On Wednesday, the newspaper The Times reported that the incident had been thwarted after one of the five suspects alerted the police before the group was arrested.

President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, had previously indicated that intelligence agencies were aware of the suspects and that another country might be involved, but British authorities had not commented on the matter.

"We've been waiting to confirm what we could say, but now we can confirm our belief that Iran played a role," Burnham told Sky News.

Speculation about possible involvement by Iran or another country surged after Tehran had previously warned London not to allow Washington to use its military bases.

The United Kingdom gave the United States the green light to use the Fairford base for defensive strikes against Iran, sparking outrage in Iran and concern among some residents of rural Gloucestershire, where the base is located.