Italy

Rome, September 28, 2026. The Italian press is following the Fairford case primarily through the lens of the investigation and its methodical caution, rather than that of a verdict already written about a sponsor. Adnkronos recalls that the alert was given on Sunday at 0:45 London time (1:45 in Italy), after the report of three suspicious vans approaching the Royal Air Force base at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, used by American forces for their operations against Iran. Five men were arrested and around 85 homes evacuated around the village of Whelford.

According to ANSA, the five suspects were initially charged under the Explosives Act by the Gloucestershire police, before Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit, which took over the investigation, formally retained the charge of preparing an attack. Their identity and nationality remain, notes the agency, covered by reserve. Army bomb disposal experts, supported by a remote-controlled robot, examined the three vehicles for hours.

The interim head of the Gloucestershire police, Maggie Blyth, quoted by Adnkronos, specifies that no decision has yet been made to formally qualify the incident as terrorist, while confirming that anti-terrorism is now leading the investigation. A link with Tehran is being examined with particular attention: the base serves as an advanced outpost for the American aviation, and the Revolutionary Guards had warned in July that any facility used against Iran would become a legitimate target. But the investigators, emphasizes Adnkronos, are also looking at other leads, without excluding other hostile or suspect states.

This caution contrasts, notes ANSA, with the speed of American President Donald Trump to claim, in the midst of the midterm campaign, the credit for a crackdown resulting from great collaboration with London, asserting that the suspects wanted to cause significant damage and had been under surveillance for a long time. Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham, interviewed in Liverpool during his party's congress, confirmed the arrest of several suspects without mentioning a lead, deeming any further comment inappropriate as long as the investigation continues; his minister showed the same reserve.

For the Italian press, the episode illustrates how the shadow of terrorism, mixed with the American-Israeli war against Iran, puts the United Kingdom on the front line, without London giving in, for the time being, to the temptation to designate a culprit.