WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Monday that American B-1 bombers were moved out of a British airbase due to threats linked to Iran.The planes had been stationed at RAF Fairford, the preferred European base for US bombers, and had recently been used in US strikes on Iran. Last week, five British men were arrested near the base on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday it had removed its bombers —thought to be about a dozen B-1s — from the base back to their home stations in America.Speaking to reporters as he departed for Nebraska, Trump said the US had known of a “threat”, which led them to move the bombers.US media reports suggested that the decision was made due to intelligence suggesting that Iran was plotting a drone attack. The exact nature of the threat that prompted the aircraft’s removal from RAF Fairford remains unclear, but sources in Washington speculated it might have revolved around sabotage attempts or attempts to strike the sensitive, expensive aircraft in the event of resumed hostilities with Iran.Earlier on Monday, a No 10 spokesperson had insisted RAF Fairford was safe and pointed to Trump’s comments last week, where he praised the UK’s “police, defense and security services” in relation to the base.Trump’s comments appear to confirm reports by US media that a new threat led to the bombers being removed after a major incident on 27 September when police were alerted to three “suspicious vehicles” near the airbase.While speaking to a group of reporters outside the White House, Trump was asked if a “specific threat” had led the US to pull its bombers from the airbase.Trump replied: “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.”He added that Washington “actually knows the people that made the threat”, but he did not confirm who — though he later said “they would be linked to Iran”.Trump’s comments, and those of Vance before him, stand in stark contrast to those of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.While both Trump and Vance pointed to an unspecified threat, Rubio was much more guarded in his language, noting that it was “not unusual” for military units and assets to rotate and be moved around the world.RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire has been at the center of an incident being investigated by counter-terror police.Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of terror offences and subsequently released on bail. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was also later arrested and released on bail.Following the release of the first five men, Trump criticised the decision and US officials suggested Iran could have been involved in the incident.Whitehall sources have not disputed that the decision from Washington to remove the bombers was in response to the incident at the airbase in Gloucestershire.Speaking earlier on Monday, Rubio said he would not directly tie last week’s incident to the decision to pull bombers from RAF Fairford.He added: “It’s not unusual to see movement of assets to different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployments, people changing out and new people coming in, new planes coming in and old planes going out.”Rubio said the US still had full confidence in the security of all its bases and that British authorities had been very co-operative since the incident.Vance later said the bombers had been moved out of an “abundance of caution”, adding Washington felt Iran was doing what it had “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” that Iran had played a part in the incident but he did not provide further details, while Rubio said it had “clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor” without going into further details.Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.In July, Iran said “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.RAF Fairford, near the village of Whelford, has been used as a forward operating location by the US air force for decades.In recent months, the US has flown B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base for the Middle East, after the UK approved a US request to use it for defensive strikes on Iran.The redeployment from RAF Fairford will reduce America’s capacity to “quickly surge sorties against Iran, reducing the threat level somewhat”, Christoph Bergs, research analyst at the defense think tank Royal United Services Institute, told Reuters.WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said on Monday that American B-1 bombers were moved out of a British airbase due to threats linked to Iran.The planes had been stationed at RAF Fairford, the preferred European base for US bombers, and had recently been used in US strikes on Iran. Last week, five British men were arrested near the base on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday it had removed its bombers —thought to be about a dozen B-1s — from the base back to their home stations in America.Speaking to reporters as he departed for Nebraska, Trump said the US had known of a “threat”, which led them to move the bombers.US media reports suggested that the decision was made due to intelligence suggesting that Iran was plotting a drone attack. The exact nature of the threat that prompted the aircraft’s removal from RAF Fairford remains unclear, but sources in Washington speculated it might have revolved around sabotage attempts or attempts to strike the sensitive, expensive aircraft in the event of resumed hostilities with Iran.Earlier on Monday, a No 10 spokesperson had insisted RAF Fairford was safe and pointed to Trump’s comments last week, where he praised the UK’s “police, defense and security services” in relation to the base.Trump’s comments appear to confirm reports by US media that a new threat led to the bombers being removed after a major incident on 27 September when police were alerted to three “suspicious vehicles” near the airbase.While speaking to a group of reporters outside the White House, Trump was asked if a “specific threat” had led the US to pull its bombers from the airbase.Trump replied: “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.”He added that Washington “actually knows the people that made the threat”, but he did not confirm who — though he later said “they would be linked to Iran”.Trump’s comments, and those of Vance before him, stand in stark contrast to those of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.While both Trump and Vance pointed to an unspecified threat, Rubio was much more guarded in his language, noting that it was “not unusual” for military units and assets to rotate and be moved around the world.RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire has been at the center of an incident being investigated by counter-terror police.Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of terror offences and subsequently released on bail. A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was also later arrested and released on bail.Following the release of the first five men, Trump criticised the decision and US officials suggested Iran could have been involved in the incident.Whitehall sources have not disputed that the decision from Washington to remove the bombers was in response to the incident at the airbase in Gloucestershire.Speaking earlier on Monday, Rubio said he would not directly tie last week’s incident to the decision to pull bombers from RAF Fairford.He added: “It’s not unusual to see movement of assets to different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployments, people changing out and new people coming in, new planes coming in and old planes going out.”Rubio said the US still had full confidence in the security of all its bases and that British authorities had been very co-operative since the incident.Vance later said the bombers had been moved out of an “abundance of caution”, adding Washington felt Iran was doing what it had “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” that Iran had played a part in the incident but he did not provide further details, while Rubio said it had “clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor” without going into further details.Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.In July, Iran said “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.RAF Fairford, near the village of Whelford, has been used as a forward operating location by the US air force for decades.In recent months, the US has flown B-1 and B-52 bombers from the base for the Middle East, after the UK approved a US request to use it for defensive strikes on Iran.The redeployment from RAF Fairford will reduce America’s capacity to “quickly surge sorties against Iran, reducing the threat level somewhat”, Christoph Bergs, research analyst at the defense think tank Royal United Services Institute, told Reuters.
Trump says US bombers moved out of UK airbase due to Iran threat
