They release the five detainees for the alleged attempted attack against a British military base

LondonThe supposed Iranian plot of the also supposed attack against the Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Fairford, used by the United States in its bombings against Iran, is deflating by the moment. The five people arrested on Sunday at dawn, suspected of a possible terrorist attack, have been provisionally released this Monday afternoon. The arrest took place after a resident of the small village of Whelford, one of those surrounding the base, alerted to the presence of three white vans that were blocking access to her property, and saw a group of hooded individuals in balaclavas nearby.

What on Saturday night was seen as an international thriller, with Donald Trump recalling that it was a surveillance operation that had been underway for some time, and that the detainees "intended to cause great harm", does not even seem, for now, like one of those rural crimes solved by Miss Marple, the character created by Agatha Christie.

Despite the release of the suspects, all British, residents of London and between 23 and 25 years old, the police do not yet rule out any possibility. "The investigation is not over. [The suspects] Are subject to strict conditions regarding their movements and contact with other people. They remain under investigation as we explore various lines of inquiry," assured Laurence Taylor, head of the counter-terrorism unit and assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard, in a press conference.

Initially, the five men were arrested on suspicion of alleged crimes under the Explosives Act and, subsequently, on the charge of preparing a terrorist act, in accordance with section five of the Terrorism Act. Despite this initial precaution, Taylor made no mention of any findings related to dangerous or potentially dangerous material during the exhaustive search that, with bomb disposal squad robots, has been carried out over the last thirty-six hours on the three confiscated vans with which the suspects traveled to the area. The police official also did not comment on what brought them to the vicinity of this strategic Royal Air Force center.

The Fairford base is located in the idyllic Cotswolds region, in the county of Gloucester, about 160 kilometers west of London. The police intervention took place following a report from a neighbor who, upon seeing apparently suspicious activity, first called the Ministry of Defence police, who did not answer the call, and then the 999 emergency services. Early Sunday morning, about 85 homes in the vicinity of where the three vans were located were evacuated. The residents will be able to return to their homes in the coming hours.

Since the incident was reported, one of the most widely spread hypotheses by the British media has been the possibility of an Iranian plot, given the role that Fairford has played in the war against Iran, once London authorized its use by the United States for its military operations. But the Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard wanted to be cautious in this regard: "I know there is considerable interest in knowing whether the current geopolitical context has any relation to this incident. We are keeping an open mind. We are considering it from all possible angles, including the possibility that this was actively committed by intermediaries or individuals who, consciously or unconsciously, acted on behalf of a foreign state."

It did not go any further, however. Who did, though, was the Iranian embassy in London, which has rejected any involvement in the alleged terrorist attack. The mystery of the possible attack continues. And the motivations and the actors involved also remain an enigma. In this sense, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated early this morning, in declarations to the American media, that, "without wanting to go into details, it is a case in which a foreign actor is clearly involved." And he added even more salt and pepper, in what amounts to interference in the police and judicial affairs of another country, stating: "I know that many people are uneasy about the news that some of those involved have been released on bail while they are being investigated."