U.S. Pulls All B-1 Bombers From British Base After Suspected Iran-Linked Plot

The United States has withdrawn all of its B-1 bombers from a British air base, a Pentagon official said on Sunday, one week after British authorities said they had foiled a suspected terrorist plot targeting the facility.

A dozen B-1s had been stationed at RAF Fairford, northwest of London, and had been used for U.S. strikes on Iran, according to Reuters. “While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, 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,” a Pentagon spokesman wrote in an email, according to Reuters. The Wall Street Journal first reported that the aircraft were removed amid security concerns over suspected terror plots against the facility.

Six arrests and a denied accusation

British police arrested five men who were driving white vans near the base in the early hours of Sept. 27, according to USA Today. The men were released on bail after police discovered petrol in the vehicles but no explosives, USA Today reported. A sixth person, a dual British-Iranian national, was arrested on Oct. 1 on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, according to British police. He has also been released on bail, and police have said all six men remain under investigation, according to USA Today.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday that there were “strong indications that Iran played a part” in the incident, according to Reuters. A senior U.S. official alleged that Iran backed the plot and that the crew had been recruited by the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the New York Post. Iranian officials have repeatedly denied any involvement, calling the accusations “fabricated speculations,” and Tehran summoned the British ambassador over the issue, according to Reuters.

A forward base built for the Iran war

The British government had allowed the United States to use bombers based at Fairford to strike Iranian missile sites that were attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters. The base is strategically important for the Pentagon because the shorter flight distance reduces the time and cost of striking targets in Iran, and the facility has been used extensively by the U.S. Air Force since the start of the war in February, according to USA Today.

The redeployment does not end that mission, but it lengthens it: operations that launched from England must now fly from home stations in the United States. The Pentagon said the airmen who operate America’s bomber force, including B-1s, B-2s and B-52s, remain ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities, including on operations that launch and recover from the continental United States, in a statement reported by Sky News.

President Donald Trump criticized the decision to release the suspects on bail in remarks at the White House on Sept. 28. “I’m surprised that they released them,” he said, according to USA Today. “I wouldn’t have done that.” Trump has said those involved in the plot had planned “big damage,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also pointed to the “hands of a foreign actor,” according to Reuters.

For now, the six men remain free on bail and under investigation, British police have not publicly detailed any charges, and the Pentagon has not said whether the bombers will return to Fairford. The immediate effect is already clear: a suspected plot that never reached the runway has still pushed America’s forward-deployed bombers an ocean away from the war they were sent to fight.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters, USA Today and the New York Post.