US bombers pulled from RAF Fairford in face of ‘some threats’, says Trump

LAST UPDATE | 13 hrs ago

DONALD TRUMP HAS said there were “some threats” that led the United States to pull bombers from a UK base.

The US president said the military aircraft “didn’t fly out by accident” from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had sought to play down the withdrawal of the planes after suggestions the move was linked to security concerns.

The top diplomat would not link the departure of the jets to a recent suspected terror plot targeting the base.

But asked as he left the White House on Monday if the planes had been moved in response to a threat, Trump said: “Yeah, I think we can say that. They didn’t fly out by accident.

“No, but there were some threats and rather than tempting the enemy, we’ll capture the enemy and beat the enemy.

“But why should we keep them there? So we moved them around a little bit, not very far.”

He added: “We actually know the people who made the threat.”

US Vice President JD Vance said the planes had been redeployed “out of an abundance of caution, trying to protect our guys”.

Speaking as he left Washington to travel to Alaska, he told reporters: “I think that we’re going to be as careful as we possibly can be.”

He added: “We do feel with some confidence that the Iranians are, you know, they’re trying to do what the Iranian state has done for 49 years, which is engaged in acts of terrorism against the United States and against a lot of other people as well, so we are being extremely cautious.”

But Rubio said he “wouldn’t directly tie” the redeployment of the planes to the recent security alert close to the base.

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.”

Six men have been arrested over the past week in connection with a suspected plot targeting RAF Fairford, which had been hosting US bombers involved in strikes against Iran.

The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that the aircraft that were stationed at the base had been “redeployed to their home stations in the United States”, but stressed the US Air Force retained the ability to strike “anywhere, any time”.

US officials told The New York Times the redeployment of the bombers had been ordered after more specific details about threats to the base emerged over the weekend.

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On Monday, Downing Street declined to comment on the withdrawal of US bombers but insisted RAF Fairford was safe.

THE UNITED STATES confirmed on Sunday that it has withdrawn all B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford, a British airbase at the centre of a counter-terrorism probe after a mysterious security incident last month.

Police were called to the base in south-west England on 27 September after a local farmer reported a group of men with several vans engaged in “suspicious” activity.

The scare forced evacuations at 85 homes near the airbase, which was used by the United States to launch strikes on Iran.

Investigators did not find any explosives in the vans, but instead “a quantity of petrol was recovered,” according to counter-terrorism police.

A statement from a Pentagon official said Sunday “we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States.”

The statement noted that “operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time.”

Speculation about the motives behind the incident ranged from terror threat to fuel thievery, as energy prices in the UK hit record highs this week.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said there were “strong indications that Iran played a part” in the incident, a charge rejected by Tehran.

Six London-based Britons arrested in the incident, including a UK-Iranian dual national, all men in their mid-20s, were released on bail, drawing rebuke from Washington.

“I wouldn’t have done that,” Trump told reporters, as his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, alleged a “foreign actor” was involved.

Iran’s embassy in London has said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” speculation that Tehran was involved.

Heightened security 

Adding to the mystery, British media reported that officers were alerted to the incident by one of the initial suspects, but police have not commented on the reports.

Security at the base had reportedly been heightened recently.

Britain gave Washington permission in March to use Fairford for “specific defensive operations into Iran,” and US bombers and other planes have since been seen taking off and landing from the base.

Fairford is the only airbase on Britain’s mainland used for this purpose.

The incident came after a farmer living in the village of Whelford, near the airbase, called the police after seeing three vans blocking a road and a group of masked men fleeing the scene.

Aerial footage of the vans showed they appeared to contain barrels, and at least one was marked with a fake logo and phone number, giving the false impression that it was owned by a legitimate diesel delivery firm.