US President Donald Trump listens to questions from reporters in the Oval Office at the White House during an announcement.
Trump says UK should not have released airbase suspects on bail; denies offering arms sale to Xi
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that British police should not have released on bail five men who were arrested near an airbase used by the United States over a suspected bomb plot.
Trump added that the case “might be” linked to Iran but declined to give details.
“I’m surprised that they released them, I wouldn’t have done that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, while adding that British authorities had worked “very closely” with the United States.
“We know everything about them. We would not have released them.”
The five men were arrested early Sunday near the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford base in southwest England, from which US bombers have taken off to target Iran since March.
British counter-terrorism police announced on Monday that the five men -- all London-based Britons in their mid-20s -- had been freed on bail, and that officers were probing whether a “foreign state” could be involved.
Asked whether the case was linked to Iran, Trump replied: “It might be.”
Pressed to give details, Trump said: “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.”
Iran has denied involvement in any plot to target the base.
Trump denies offering to sell arms to China's Xi
In a seperate note, Trump also denied asking Xi Jinping if he would like to buy American weapons, after the US ambassador to Beijing said the US president made the offer to his Chinese counterpart.
"I've never heard of that one," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the comments made by envoy David Purdue.
"They'd probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than them, so maybe it's a good idea. But we didn't discuss it."
