The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday evening that all US bombers deployed at the Royal Air Force Fairford base in the UK have left the base and returned to the United States.
The original report was published by The Wall Street Journal, which received official confirmation from the US Defense Department. Until recently, twelve B-1B Lancer bombers had been stationed at Fairford, and were also used by the United States during strikes on Iran.
“For operational security reasons, we could not confirm the movement of our assets and forces in real time,” the Pentagon said. “But we can now confirm that all US bombers deployed there have been returned to their home bases in the United States.”
The Defense Department stressed that the aircraft’s return does not eliminate its ability to carry out long-range strike missions, and that it remains on alert to employ “global strike capability” from US territory.
The UK Defense Ministry declined to comment on the deployment.
The move comes about a week after suspects were arrested near Fairford over an alleged plot targeting the base. Five young British nationals were arrested in the area, and another suspect, who holds British and Iranian citizenship, was later arrested in London.
The suspects were released on bail, but the British investigation is continuing. Police said they are also examining the possibility of foreign state involvement, but have not publicly concluded that Iran was behind the incident.
Trump says threat prompted US to pull bombers from UK base
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Earlier on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington still has confidence in the security of all its bases.
Rubio, asked about the US decision to remove its B-1 bombers from the British base, said that the Department of Defense constantly reallocates resources where they need to be and that he would not directly tie last week's incident to the move. He added that British authorities had been very cooperative on the case.
US allegedly knew of Iranian plot against US forces in Fairford
According to The Wall Street Journal, US intelligence officials had information about an Iran-linked plot to target bombers and US military personnel at Fairford. A senior US official told the newspaper that an individual linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recruited British citizens to carry out the operation, which allegedly involved several stages and a diversionary action near the base.
The US allegation has not been adopted as an official finding by British authorities, and some UK officials have questioned the level of sophistication attributed to the plot.
Fairford, in Gloucestershire, became a key forward base for US bombers during the war with Iran. B-1 and B-52 aircraft were deployed there in March, and strike missions against Iran were launched from the base. Following the base’s use in those operations, IRGC officials warned that facilities supporting US strikes could be considered legitimate targets.
Reuters contributed to this report.