Two Days After ‘Not Acceptable,’ Trump Expects Iran Talks This Week — as UK Police Probe a Bomb Plot Near a US Bomber Base

On September 26, Trump said of Iran’s seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz: “I’m rejecting their offer.”

On September 27, he told Axios he expects more talks with Iran this week.

“They want to make a deal,” he said. But what Iran is asking for, he added, is the kind of deal that “might have been possible a year ago.” And on resuming strikes: “I’m always thinking about it.”

The Rejection Was an Opening Bid

Read together, the two statements describe a negotiating position, not a closed door. Trump turned down Iran’s sequencing — the US lifts the blockade and sanctions first, Iran reopens Hormuz within seven days — and then signaled the channel stays open.

The next round is expected as early as September 28, in indirect form through mediators.

Iran’s side mirrored the posture. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will firmly confront any attack on it, “even an apocalyptic war.” In the same breath: “At the same time, we are ready for diplomacy. A very reasonable offer is on the table.” Araghchi is in New York until September 30. Iranian media said there are no plans for a meeting there.

Both sides are doing the same thing: refusing the other’s terms in public while keeping the channel open in private. Trump’s “a year ago” line is the tell on price. It says Iran’s leverage has shrunk — the blockade, in his words, has left Iran “completely out of money” — and that any deal now should reflect that. Araghchi’s “very reasonable offer” says Tehran thinks it has already moved enough. The gap is sequencing: who moves first on the blockade and the strait. Neither statement narrows it. But a president who expects talks this week is not a president who has decided to strike this week, and the Journal’s reporting that he sees a bombing campaign as likely only after the midterms still fits the calendar.

A Suspected Plot at RAF Fairford

The same day, UK counterterrorism police arrested five men in connection with a suspected bomb plot near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

Fairford is one of the main bases in Europe for US bombers used in operations against Iran. It hosts the headquarters of the US Air Force’s 501st Combat Support Wing and 420th Air Base Squadron.

According to The Telegraph and other British outlets, investigators are treating a possible Iranian link as a strong line of inquiry. Police have also said the suspects, all British nationals, could have been attempting Iranian-directed terrorism or Russian-inspired sabotage, and that the motive is still being established.

What is confirmed: arrests, a suspected plot, and a base central to the air campaign. What is not: who directed it, if anyone.

Why It Matters Beyond Britain

If an Iranian link is confirmed, the war’s footprint moves again. It has already spread past the strait to Gulf infrastructure — Trump said Iran was “probably” behind the attack that shut Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. A plot against a US base in a NATO country would put allied home territory in the frame for the first time in this conflict, and raise the domestic cost for European governments hosting US aircraft.

It would also land in the middle of the talks. Hardliners on both sides would read it as proof that negotiation is pointless.

The Case for Caution

Arrests are not convictions. British police have named two possible motives and confirmed neither. Five British nationals acting on their own is also possible. It would be a mistake to treat the plot as an Iranian escalation until investigators say so. On the diplomacy, “talks this week” from Trump has not always meant talks that week. Iranian media’s denial of a New York meeting is a reminder that the format and timing are still unsettled.