Two men rearrested in UK over suspected plot at us-run air base

🗞️ Story file #708

Two men rearrested in UK over suspected plot at us-run air base

Oct 20, 2 PM ET to Oct 22, 1 PM ET

13outlets carried it
🫏6 · 2 · 5🐘left · center · right
2 dayson the front pages
13front pages at once, at its peak
10 minof TV captions
2radio newscasts
12people retold it online
6 of 7parts of a saga

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

Oct 20, 2 PM ETfirst on a front page: HuffPost
Oct 20, 6 PM ETfirst on the radio: NPR News Now
Oct 20, 8 PM ETfirst on TV: BBC News
Oct 21, 8 AM ETretold online by 12 people
Oct 21, 12 PM ETpeak: on 13 front pages

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 20, 2 PM to Oct 22, 1 PM ET (peak 13), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

📌 linked by aggregators: Google News

🗣️ only one side says: 🫏 assisting iran 🫏 us-run air 🐘 raf fairford

✏️ 3 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

Breitbart (2 wordings): “Terror Police Re-Arrest Two Men in Relation to Alleged Iranian Plot Against Joint UK-U.S. Airbase Fairford” → “Terror Police Re-Arrest Two Men in Relation to Alleged Iranian Plot on Airbase”
CNN (2 wordings): “Breaking News Two men rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service in RAF Fairford incident” → “Two men rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service in RAF Fairford incident”
Newsmax (2 wordings): “2 Men Rearrested in UK for Alleged US Air Base Plot” → “2 Men Rearrested in UK on Suspicion of Assisting Iran over Suspected Plot at a US-run Air Base”

Every outlet's first headline (13), left to right by AllSides rating

HuffPost 2 Men Rearrested In UK On Suspicion Of Assisting Iran Over Suspected Plot At A US-Run Air Base Oct 20, 2 PM ET
The Guardian Two men re-arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran over UK airbase incident Oct 20, 2 PM ET
CBS News 2 men rearrested for alleged spying for Iran in U.K. air base incident Oct 20, 2 PM ET
CNN Breaking News Two men rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service in RAF Fairford incident Oct 20, 2 PM ET
Military.com 2 Men Rearrested in UK on Suspicion of Assisting Iran Over Suspected Plot at a US-Run Air Base Oct 20, 2 PM ET
New York Times The British Police Rearrest Two in Connection With Alleged Terror Plot Oct 20, 5 PM ET
Financial Times Police rearrest two men over RAF Fairford incident Oct 20, 2 PM ET
Reuters UK police arrest pair on suspicion of helping Iranian intelligence over RAF Fairford incident Oct 20, 2 PM ET
The Epoch Times UK Rearrests 2 Men Over Suspected Terror Plot at Air Base Oct 21, 7 AM ET
Breitbart Terror Police Re-Arrest Two Men in Relation to Alleged Iranian Plot Against Joint UK-U.S. Airbase Fairford Oct 21, 12 PM ET
IJR Two Men Re-arrested on Suspicion of Assisting Iranian Intelligence Near RAF Fairford Oct 20, 3 PM ET
Newsmax 2 Men Rearrested in UK for Alleged US Air Base Plot Oct 20, 2 PM ET
The Daily Caller UK Re-Arrests RAF Fairford Suspects, Alleges They Are Foreign Intelligence Assets Oct 20, 6 PM ET

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📺 On TV

BBC News5 min

Fox News4 min

Two re-arrested in connection to Fairford incident BBC News, 3 min
UK POLICE REARREST TWO MEN ON SUSPICION OF ASSISTING IRAN'S INTELLIGENCE SERVICE Fox News, 2 min
Two men re-arrested over RAF Fairford incident BBC News, 2 min
UK POLICE REARREST TWO MEN FOR ALLEGED TERROR PLOT ON AIRBASE LAST MONTH Fox News, 62 s
2 MEN RE-ARRESTED IN UK ON SUSPICION OF SPYING FOR IRAN AFTER THWARTED AIRBASE PLOT Fox News, 48 s

📻 On the radio

NPR News Now, Oct 21, 12:09 AM ET: story 4 of 6
NPR News Now, Oct 20, 6:09 PM ET: story 6 of 8

what people online made of it

🧶 Retold online

Two men have been rearrested on suspicion of assisting Iran's intelligence service in a plot involving RAF Fairford. Oct 21: told by 12 people; told before on Oct 28, Oct 7, Oct 7, Oct 6, Oct 5
🦋 Widely seen on Bluesky

🦋 a post on Bluesky · 60 likes, 15 reposts
🦋 a post on Bluesky · 5 likes, 1 reposts

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ names in it: Iran Royal Air Force RAF Fairford

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

🧵 UK-US airbase security tensions

UK-Iranian national released on bail over suspected plot at RAF base
Oct 3, 8 AM ET
U.S. bombers withdrawn from UK base due to threat concerns
Oct 7, 9 AM ET
U.S. removes bombers from UK base over drone threat
Oct 4, 6 PM ET
UK police make seventh arrest in us base terror probe
Oct 6, 10 AM ET
UK says Iran's IRGC likely directed airbase incident
Oct 12, 1 PM ET
Two men rearrested in UK over suspected plot at us-run air base (this story)
Oct 20, 2 PM ET
Two British men charged over alleged Iran-linked plot at US-run military base
Oct 27, 7 AM ET