2026年9月29日 / 美国东部时间上午9:57 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
伦敦电——特朗普总统与国务卿马可·卢比奥批评英国反恐警方对一起针对美军使用的英国空军基地的疑似袭击计划的处理方式。卢比奥称这是一起“非常严重”的事件，并声称其“明显涉及”外国势力，而特朗普总统则暗示可能是伊朗所为。
五名英国男性国民，年龄均在25岁左右，于周日上午在英国皇家空军费尔福德基地附近的一个英国村庄被捕，罪名是准备实施恐怖行为。在这场持续七个月的战争期间，该基地一直被美国轰炸机用于对伊朗发动袭击。
五名男子已于周一获保释，英国反恐警务部门负责人强调，他们仍将受到“严格的行动和接触限制”，并且“在我们展开多线调查期间，他们绝对仍处于调查之中”。
然而，他们很快被释放且未受到任何涉嫌犯罪的指控，同时当局也未报告发现任何爆炸物或武器，这引发了猜测，认为这些男子可能根本没有计划袭击该基地。一些当地媒体援引英国安全消息人士的话称，这些男子可能只是想偷窃燃料。
“这是件非常严重的事？”
周一在椭圆形办公室对该消息作出回应时，特朗普先生表示，他“对他们释放这些人感到惊讶，我不会这么做”。
他表示，美英当局在此事上合作“非常密切”，并补充道：“我们对他们了如指掌，我们不会释放他们。”
总统补充称，这起事件“可能与伊朗有关”，但当被要求提供更多信息时，他回答说：“我宁愿不说。我的意思是，我知道答案，我可以说得非常具体，但我宁愿不说。我不会释放他们。”
与此同时，卢比奥周一表示，许多关注这起事件的人“对其中一些人被保释出狱感到不安”。
“上周末在英国可能发生的是一起非常严重的情况，”卢比奥在接受福克斯新闻采访时说道，称此事“明显涉及外国势力的插手”，但未对这一表述提供进一步解释，这比英国当局对该事件的定性更为严厉。
“未来几天还会有更多相关消息公布，但目前我能说的仅此而已，除此之外，这是一件非常严重的事情，”他说。
“只是偷油的窃贼？”
当被问及释放这些男子一事时，一名英国法律专家周二告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“保释嫌疑人以观察他们的动向和接触对象，是合理的做法”。
“这种策略并非首次使用，”这位不愿透露姓名的分析人士说，“我不认为警方在这件事上表现得愚蠢或草率。”
一直有猜测称，这五名男子可能是盗窃柴油的窃贼，目标是当地农场或该基地的外部燃料供应以转售，英国警方尚未直接对此猜测置评。根据情报机构DeterTech5月的一份报告，随着伊朗战争推高柴油和汽油价格，这类犯罪在英国呈激增趋势。
两名被描述为军方消息人士的人士周一向当地新闻媒体《威尔特郡999》透露，嫌疑人“只是偷油的窃贼”，他们的车辆中发现了桶和其他设备。
英国警方表示，在这些男子驾驶的三辆货车中未发现可用的爆炸装置。警方在这些车辆周围作业的照片显示，至少一辆卡车中被搬出了多个看似空的大桶。
为外国政府“知情或不知情”效力的不法分子？
伦敦大都会警察局反恐部门负责人劳伦斯·泰勒助理专员周一对记者表示，这起事件“可能是由代理人实施的，也可能是个人明知或不知情地为外国国家效力而实施的行为”。
伊朗当局已警告称，任何用于袭击该国的基地都将被视为合法目标。
伊朗否认与皇家空军费尔福德基地附近的逮捕行动有关。伊朗驻伦敦大使馆周一在社交媒体上分享的一份声明中表示，伊朗政权“坚决拒绝并强烈谴责近期一些英国个人和媒体试图将伊朗与该事件联系起来的毫无根据和恶意的猜测”。
然而，与俄罗斯一样，伊朗被指控利用可能甚至不知道自己在为外国国家效力的个人在西欧各地实施破坏活动。
与伊朗结盟的组织“正义伙伴伊斯兰运动”（Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia，简称IMCR）已声称对过去几个月的多起事件负责，包括对荷兰和比利时的犹太会堂的袭击，以及对伦敦北部犹太社区的多起袭击。
该组织的一名代表今年3月告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，它将“继续威胁全球的美国和以色列利益，直到我们为加沙、伊朗、黎巴嫩和抵抗运动国家的每一名儿童报仇雪恨”，并敦促人们“远离犹太复国主义者和美国的利益”。
今年7月，英国政府表示，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队的精锐圣城部队“几乎肯定指挥了IMCR在欧洲的袭击”。
专家们将这些事件描述为伊朗和俄罗斯日益明显的模式：通过招募往往不知情的人员（通常是年轻男性），以经济补偿为条件，让他们实施低级别袭击，从而将破坏活动外包出去。
周二，北约成员国爱沙尼亚的执法当局表示，他们已确定8月中旬针对一家国防工业公司的纵火袭击是“俄罗斯安全部门委托实施的蓄意且有预谋的行为”。
Trump and Rubio question U.K. handling of possible plot against air base after 5 men released on bail
September 29, 2026 / 9:57 AM EDT / CBS News
London— President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have criticized British counterterror police’s handling of a possible plot targeting a U.K. air base used by U.S. forces, with Rubio calling it a “very serious” incident and alleging that it “clearly involved” a foreign actor, and the president suggesting it “might be” Iran.
Five British nationals, all men in their mid-20s, were arrested Sunday morning in an English village near the British air force base RAF Fairford on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. The base has been used by American bombers to launch attacks on Iran during the seven-month war.
All five men were released on bail Monday, with the head of the U.K.’s Counter Terror Policing unit stressing they would remain “subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others” and that they “absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of enquiry.”
The fact that they were released so quickly and not charged with any suspected crimes, and that authorities did not report finding any explosives or weapons, has fueled speculation, however, that the men may not have been planning to attack the base at all. Some local media outlets have cited U.K. security sources saying the men may just have been looking to steal fuel.
“A very serious thing?”
Reacting to the news in the Oval Office Monday, Mr. Trump said he was “surprised that they released them. I wouldn’t have done that.”
He said U.S. and British authorities had worked “very closely” on the matter, adding: “We know everything about them. We would not have released them.”
The president added that the incident “might be” linked to Iran, but when pressed for more information, he replied: “I’d rather not. I mean, I know the answer, I could be very specific, but I’d rather not say. I would not have released them.”
Rubio, meanwhile, said Monday that many people following the incident were “disturbed that some of these people have been released on bail.”
“What could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a very serious situation,” Rubio told Fox News, saying it “clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor,” without offering any further explanation for the assertion, which went further than British authorities have in characterizing the incident.
“There’s a lot more news that’ll 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 is a very serious thing,” he said.
“Just thieves siphoning fuel?”
Asked about the release of the men, a British legal expert told CBS News Tuesday that it would be “reasonable to release suspects on bail to see where they go and who they talk to.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time these tactics have been used,” said the analyst, who declined to be named. “I don’t think the police are being stupid or casual in this.”
There has been speculation — not commented on yet directly by British police — that the five men may have been diesel fuel thieves targeting local farms, or perhaps an external fuel supply for the base, for resale. It’s a crime that has proliferated in the U.K. as the Iran war has driven up diesel and gasoline prices, according to a May report from intelligence agency DeterTech.
Two people described as military sources, speaking Monday to local news outlet Wiltshire 999s, were quoted as saying the suspects were “just thieves siphoning fuel,” with barrels and other equipment found in their vehicles.
The British police have said no viable explosive device was discovered in the three vans driven by the men. Images of the police working around those vehicles have shown large, seemingly empty barrels that were removed from at least one truck.
Bad actors working “knowingly or unknowingly” for a foreign state?
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of the London Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terror unit, told reporters Monday the incident “may be activity committed by proxies, or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”
Iranian authorities have warned that any bases used to attack the country would be considered legitimate targets.
Iran has denied any link to the arrests near RAF Fairford. The Iranian Embassy in London said in a statement shared Monday on social media that the regime “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets attempting to link Iran” to the incident.
Iran has, however, like Russia, been accused of using individuals who may be unaware they are even working for a foreign state to conduct sabotage attacks across Western Europe.
The Iran-aligned group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia — or The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous (IMCR) — has claimed responsibility for several incidents over the past few months, including attacks on synagogues in the Netherlands and Belgium, and multiple attacks on north London’s Jewish community.
A representative of the group told CBS News in March that it would “keep threatening U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide until we’ve avenged every child in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and the resistance nations,” and it urged people “to stay away from Zionist and American interests.”
In July, the U.K. government said the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe.”
Experts have characterized those incidents as part of a growing pattern of Iran and Russia outsourcing sabotage by recruiting sometimes unsuspecting people, often young men, to carry out low-level attacks for financial compensation.
On Tuesday, law enforcement authorities in NATO member Estonia said they had determined an arson attack against a defense industry company in mid-August was a “deliberate and pre-planned act commissioned by Russian security services.”