US removed bombers from British airbase due to potential Iran drone attack – report

The United States decided to withdraw its B-1 bombers from an airbase in Britain due to intelligence about a potential drone attack orchestrated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The move to redeploy all 12 bombers to their home bases in the US followed an investigation into a planned terror attack at the RAF Fairford base. Six suspects, all British nationals, were arrested last week on suspected explosives and terrorism offenses after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward the base.

All the men have been released on bail. Police earlier said they did not find any explosives in the vans that sparked the security alert.

British authorities have linked the incident to Iran.

Tehran has denied involvement, but it has previously said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target. The airbase, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.

Citing US and European officials, the Journal reported that Iran plotted to hit the aircraft and kill some American military personnel stationed at the air base. The plot on the base was part of a multifaceted IRGC plan to target US military assets, the report said.

Several British nationals were recruited by the IRGC to carry out the drone plot, the report said, adding that the plan “involved multiple steps,” such as a “diversion” in the nearby neighborhood.

Separately, officials told The New York Times they believe the planned attack was loosely modeled on the drone strike that Ukraine launched last year from within Russia that destroyed Russian strategic bombers and caused widespread damage to Russian bases.

A US official told the paper that the new intelligence was part of the same warnings that arose some three weeks ago, though the report said that a “sense of urgency spiked over the weekend,” alarming higher-ups and prompting the change in location of the bombers.

US President Donald Trump, downplaying the situation, told reporters on Monday that the bombers were moved because he didn’t want to tempt “the enemy.”

“We had a threat, and if we’re going to be threatened, we would just move them, and that sort of alleviates that,” Trump said in Washington. He added that the people who made the threat “would be linked to Iran,” but he didn’t offer details.

US Vice President JD Vance said the Air Force removed the bombers “out of an abundance of caution.”

“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. So, we are being extremely cautious,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed any link between the bombers’ departure and the police investigation.

“It’s not unusual to see rotations happen and moving into the different parts of the world based on exercises,” he said.

The Pentagon said the US bomber force remained ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities “anywhere, anytime.”

A senior NATO military official echoed that sentiment, saying the removal of the bombers would have no impact on the alliance: “NATO’s defensive agility towards any aggression remains unchanged and unmatched thanks to the unity, strength, and combined capabilities of 32 nations.”