Trump Says Iran-Linked Threat Led U.S. To Pull All 12 B-1B Bombers From RAF Fairford

Bombers pulled from Fairford

The United States removed its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford in southern England after President Donald Trump said a threat linked to Iran prompted the move.

Trump told reporters, "We had an idea that there might be a threat, and why would I leave them there? It costs very little money to move them," and he added, "So we had a threat and if we're going to be threatened, we just move them and that sort of alleviates that."

The Pentagon spokesperson said, "all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have redeployed to their home stations in the United States," and the aircraft departed over the course of a day, local aircraft spotters said.

The Washington Post said police arrested five men in white vans outside the base, RAF Fairford, a week earlier but found gasoline, not explosives, and it said the Pentagon confirmed only that it had evacuated the bomber fleet.

The Air Force removed all 12 B-1B Lancer strategic bombers from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire following an attempted attack near the English base, according to AeroXplorer, which said the withdrawal marked an abrupt end to a large deployment of heavy bombers to European soil.

Reporting for this sectionAnadolu AjansıWashingtonpost

Competing explanations and arrests

British authorities said the base was secure while the United States withdrew the bombers, and the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "We trust the security of all our bases, because, in theory, all of them can be threatened at any moment." Rubio also said he would not directly link the withdrawal to last week's incident, telling reporters, "I would not directly link what happened last week with the movements that were made." The Salt Lake Tribune described how the Iran war has cost the United States government operational costs of about $11.2 billion, munition costs of about $28 billion, and equipment losses of about $4.3 billion.

The Washington Post said top U.S. and British officials told it Iran might have paid the suspects, but it also said the British government gave no indication of anything imminent. Al Jazeera reported that Tehran denied any link to the alleged plot to target the base, and it quoted Dania Thafer saying, "The United States has lost a convenient launchpad, not its underlying strike capability."

Reporting for this section20MinutosAl Jazeera

Costs, capacity, and next moves

Analysts told Al Jazeera that the withdrawal reduces the capacity to quickly surge sorties against Iran, and Christoph Bergs said, "Their withdrawal reduces the capacity to quickly surge sorties against Iran, reducing the threat level somewhat." Arun Dawson told Al Jazeera that the B-1's principal advantage is its conventional weapons payload, saying, "the B-1's principal advantage is its conventional weapons payload – the largest of any aircraft in the US military" and he said the B-1 carries at least 34 tonnes of ordnance. The Air Force redeployment left U.S. bombers able to strike targets across the globe from the continental United States, and Air & Space Forces Magazine quoted a statement saying, "including through operations that launch and recover from the continental United States—anywhere, anytime."

The Salt Lake Tribune estimated Utah's share of the federal tax burden at about 0.85%, and it calculated that Utah's allocation of the Iran war cost was roughly $814 million. Anadolu Ajansı said Trump told reporters, "There were some threats, and rather than tempting the enemy, we'll capture the enemy and beat the enemy," as the United States moved the bombers "not very far."

Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraThe Salt Lake Tribune