US President Donald Trump has said Washington moved its bombers away from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after receiving information about “some threats” against the airbase.
The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that it had withdrawn the aircraft, believed to include about a dozen B-1 bombers, from the British base and returned them to their home stations in the United States, reports BBC.
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Nebraska on Monday, Trump said the US had been aware of a threat and decided to relocate the bombers as a precaution.
Asked outside the White House whether a “specific threat” had prompted the withdrawal, Trump said, “Yeah I think we can say that. They didn’t fly out by accident.
“There were some threats. And rather than tempting the enemy, we’ll capture the enemy and beat the enemy. But why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit. Not very far.”
Trump also said Washington “actually knows the people that made the threat”, but did not identify them.
The exact nature of the threat remains unclear. Sources in Washington told the BBC that it could have involved attempts to sabotage the aircraft or strike the costly bombers if hostilities with Iran resumed.
A source close to the White House cited Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb, a covert drone operation that targeted five Russian military bases in June last year, as an example of how an adversary could attack valuable military assets from a distance.
“Whatever they thought it was, it was taken extremely seriously,” the source said.
The White House comments came after US media reports linked the withdrawal to a new threat following a major incident near RAF Fairford on 27 September. Police had been alerted to three “suspicious vehicles” near the airbase.
The base has since been at the centre of an investigation by counter-terrorism police.
Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences but were later released on bail. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was arrested and also released on bail.
Following the release of the first five suspects, Trump criticised the decision, while US officials suggested Iran might have been involved.
Earlier on Monday, a No 10 spokesperson said RAF Fairford remained safe and referred to Trump’s comments last week praising the UK’s “police, defence and security services” over the incident.
Whitehall sources have not disputed that Washington’s decision to withdraw the bombers was linked to the incident in Gloucestershire.
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio avoided directly connecting the two developments. He said it was “not unusual” for military units and equipment to be moved around the world as part of exercises, redeployments and routine rotations.
Rubio said the US retained full confidence in the security of all its bases and praised British authorities for their co-operation following the incident.
US Vice-President JD Vance later said the bombers had been moved out of an “abundance of caution”. He also accused Iran of continuing what Washington believes it has “done for 49 years… which is engage in acts of terrorism against the US and against a lot of other people”.
Days after the incident at RAF Fairford, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” of Iranian involvement, although he gave no further details.
Rubio similarly said the incident had “clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor” without identifying the country or providing further information.
Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.
In July, Iran warned that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.
RAF Fairford, near the village of Whelford in Gloucestershire, has served as a forward operating base for the US Air Force for decades.
In recent months, the US has operated B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base for missions in the Middle East. Britain had approved a US request to use RAF Fairford for defensive strikes against Iran.
The removal of the bombers will reduce Washington’s ability to “quickly surge sorties against Iran, reducing the threat level somewhat”, according to Christoph Bergs, a research analyst at defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), who spoke to Reuters.
However, Bergs said the base’s operational use was already restricted by London’s condition that it could only support defensive strikes.
The aircraft could potentially be relocated to Diego Garcia or bases in the Gulf, which could reduce the need for air-to-air refuelling. Bergs said any such move would depend on available capacity, negotiations with allies and security considerations.
