US removes all Air Force bombers from UK base following new threat

(CNN) — The United States moved all of its long-range bombers stationed in the United Kingdom back to their American home bases on Sunday after an unspecified new threat, officials said. It comes days after the British government arrested a number of individuals in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to target the UK airbase where the planes had been stationed.

“We can acknowledge now that all US bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States,” one official told CNN. The statement did not include details on why the planes were moved.

The source familiar called the latest threat a “real world incident.” It is unusual that the US military would move the bombers back to their home stations instead of deploying them to another base in the region, the official said. President Donald Trump also confirmed that a threat had prompted the move – though he did not specify what the threat was.

“I think we can say that — I mean, they didn’t fly out by accident,” Trump said from the White House. “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.”

Vice President JD Vance said Monday that the move was made “out of an abundance of caution,” suggesting it was a response to a potential threat from Iran even as he declined to detail the specific concerns.

“I think that we’re going to be as careful as we possibly can be,” Vance told reporters. “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 engage in acts of terrorism against the United States and against a lot of other people as well.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, downplayed the removal of the US bombers, saying he would not “directly tie” the planes’ redeployment to the alleged Iranian plot.

“The only reason why you guys are focused on how many planes are at Fairford is because of the threat that happened last week. But it’s not unusual to see rotations happen and 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, old planes going out,” Rubio told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday.

Rubio added that the United States had worked closely on security with the UK for a long time, including on the Fairford investigation.

A Downing Street spokesperson said that the UK government would not comment on foreign nations’ military operations. Asked about safety concerns by residents living near the base, the spokesperson told reporters that the UK has “the tried and tested approaches to defend our bases around the country, but not just that, throughout the world.”

The UK Ministry of Defense also declined to comment on the operations or capabilities of other nations.

The Royal Air Force base at Fairford has been used to deploy US B-1 bombers involved in the war against Iran and is an operating location for US Global Strike Command, which is tasked with managing long-distance strikes.

CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas said it was likely several dozen bombers were stationed at Fairford, adding that it was unusual to move all the aircraft.

“It speaks to the credibility and the seriousness of the threat overall to the base that we’re talking about,” he told Ben Hunte on CNN Newsroom.

The relocation of the bombers comes amid the investigation into the alleged plot. British police on September 27 arrested five men on suspicion of terror and explosives offenses close to the airbase.

The men – identified only as British nationals between the ages of 23 and 25 and from the London area – were quickly released on bail, with police confirming no explosives were found in three vans at the scene. Their release sparked criticism from Trump, who said “I wouldn’t have done that.”

A 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national was also arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged plot.

US intelligence had been tracking planning by Iranian groups to target US assets at the airbase for weeks before the initial arrests of the five on suspected terrorism charges, according to multiple sources familiar.

The planning involved efforts to use intermediaries to recruit local criminal groups to carry out an attack, according to one of the sources and another person briefed on the matter. CNN was unable to learn whether the men who have been arrested were specifically known to authorities prior to last weekend; one of the sources said the Iranian planning was being tracked at a higher level.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last week there are “strong indications” Iran was involved in the incident.

“We will say more in due course, but we can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part,” he told the BBC on Sept 30.

Burnham’s remarks appeared to support the US’ assessment that the incident involved a foreign actor. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “the hands of a foreign actor” were involved in the alleged plot but declined to provide details in an interview with Fox News last week.

“I think it ties us to the reality here. We are dealing with elements in the world, and in the case of Iran for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interests globally,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iran has denied any involvement in the incident, described the accusations as baseless and summoned the British ambassador in Tehran, Iranian state media reported Thursday. During the meeting, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi reportedly urged London to revise what he called its “inappropriate approach” toward Tehran.

This has been updated with additional details.

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CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis, Jennifer Hansler, Nic Robertson, Max Saltman, Chandler Thornton Tim Lister and James Frater contributed to this report.