WASHINGTON — Reports about a possible Iranian drone attack prompted the U.S. Air Force to remove its bombers from a British air base it used to strike the Islamic Republic, two U.S. officials said Monday.
The officials could not say whether the Iranian threat was imminent. A third U.S. official said America can deploy the bombers from anywhere, so it made sense to move them out of an abundance of caution.
The move from RAF Fairford also came in the wake of an investigation into a possible planned terrorist attack at the base.
A Defense Department official told NBC News that “all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States.”
“U.S. Air Force bombers routinely operate around the world to support global force readiness and operational requirements,” the official said.
“The Airmen that operate America’s bomber force, including B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s, remain ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities — including through operations that launch and recover from the continental United States — anywhere, anytime,” the official added.
The rushed withdrawal of at least 12 bombers included several that had just arrived in the U.K. as part of a rotation to the air base, two Pentagon officials told NBC News.
Those officials said the hasty deployment back to the U.S. was not a response to a new or different threat to the U.K. base but rather part of the threat reporting that was already out there, without giving further detail.
The United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry declined to comment on the matter Monday.
British counter terror police arrested a seventh man in connection with the incident on Tuesday. The 22-year-old from London was arrested “on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006,” police said, adding that “searches of a property have also been carried out.”
It came after a dual British-Iranian national was arrested in central London last week on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. In total, six people have been taken into custody and released on bail during the investigation.
Last week, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were strong indications that Iran had played a part in the security incident.
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“We have been waiting to confirm what we could say, but we can now confirm our belief that Iran played a part,” he said in an interview. “This remains, though, a complex and very serious police investigation, so I can’t say any more at this stage.”
Iran has denied involvement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that Burnham was wrongly accusing Tehran of having played a role in the incident. “You’re barking up the wrong tree,” Araghchi wrote.
Aviation watchers, such as the Military Air Tracking Alliance, have observed dozens of B-52 and B-1 bombers operating out of RAF Fairford since the opening days of the Iran war. Observers noticed a host of B-1 bombers flying out of the base Sunday.
President Donald Trump is weighing options for his war on Iran — including new strikes — despite his initial promises to Americans that the campaign would last a matter of weeks.
“We have decisions that I’ll make about Iran. Iran’s been decimated. So the only question is — it’ll either be the easy way, or the hard way,” Trump told reporters Saturday as he left the White House for a rally in Ohio.
American bombers have used the air base, 100 miles west of London, during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.
The U.S. military still maintains a sizable presence in the Middle East. On Thursday, a U.S. official said the recently deployed USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and the USS Malkin Island amphibious readiness group — a group of ships that together carry over 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines — are heading for the region. The official said the move could have three carriers in the region as early as the end of October.
