UK: US government questions bail for Fairford base suspects

The US government has described the security alert over the weekend at the RAF Fairford base in southern England as a "very serious situation," thanking UK authorities for their cooperation.

But President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also both questioned the move to grant the five suspects bail under strict conditions as investigations against them continue.

RAF Fairford is a major military air field fairly close to the south coast of England. It's a rare European base from which the US operates heavy bombers, with the range to reach Iran amid the current conflict in the Gulf .

Marco Rubio said in an interview with Fox News that while there was much he could not say on air for now, the security scare during which five young men were detained constituted a very serious situation.

"It's one that clearly involves the hand of a foreign actor. I won't get into great detail about that yet," he said, without mentioning Iran until a later point in the interview in a more hypothetical context.

"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," Rubio said.

The Iranian Embassy in London, meanwhile, said that it "categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations" of Iranian involvement.

Rubio also echoed President Donald Trump in saying that "a lot of people are disturbed by the news that some of these people have released on bail."