Suspected Iranian drone plot pushed U.S. to evacuate bombers from British air base

British police arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of terrorism offenses connected to a possible plot against the RAF Fairford air base. Over the weekend, the U.S. Air Force evacuated bombers from that base, for fear of an attack. Nick Schifrin reports.

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Today, British police arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of Terrorism offenses connected to a possible plot against the British air base at Fairford.

Geoff, this was the seventh arrest, but a senior British official points it out to me that this was the first arrest in one week, meaning it was the result of Britain's counterterrorism investigation, rather than the rushed initial police response.

But a U.S. official tells me that, even before that arrest, the U.S. was informed of a possible -- quote -- "imminent attack." The base went on lockdown and families were moved. Since then, British and American officials have said to me and in public that this was an Iranian-backed attack on the base from which U.S. B-1 bombers have attacked Iran.

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States: We do feel with some confidence that the Iranians are -- they're trying to do what the Iranian state has done for 49 years, which is engage in acts of terrorism against the United States.

And we actually know the people that made the threat, and they got themselves with a big problem.

And, today, those bombers are back in the U.S., Geoff, from which they have attacked Iran in the past.

So, a senior British official tells me that one of the threats was a possible drone attack. Now, that's a threat that American officials have acknowledged even in the United States at U.S. bases in the U.S., simply because the war in Ukraine has proven that drones are so cheap and so easily can deliver explosives.

Vice President Vance said yesterday that the moving of the bombers was -- quote -- "out of an abundance of caution." But American and British authorities have been warning about Iranian attacks on Britain, on the United States for years.

Oct 04 AP report: U.S. Air Force removes all bombers from British air base targeted by a suspected terror attack By Konstantin Toropin, Associated Press

Sep 28 UK police say 5 men arrested near a U.S.-run air base will be released on bail By Alastair Grant, Jill Lawless, Associated Press