US withdraws all bombers from Fairford air base

The United States confirmed on Sunday that it had withdrawn all its bombers from the Royal Air Force's Fairford base after a mysterious security incident occurred there last month, leading to the opening of an anti-terrorism investigation.

Police were called to the base in southwest England on September 27 after being notified of "suspicious" activity involving a group of men and several small trucks.

Following this, 85 homes near the air base, which the United States used to launch strikes on Iran, were evacuated.

Head of the National Counter Terrorism Policing Network Lawrence Taylor said investigators found no explosives inside the small trucks, but rather quantities of gasoline.

A Pentagon official said in a statement on Sunday, "We can now confirm that all US bombers deployed at RAF Fairford have returned to their bases in the United States."

The statement added that "operational security considerations prevented us from confirming the movements of our assets and forces in real time."

An unnamed US official told CNN network that the bombers were moved after a "new unspecified threat" emerged, describing the recent incident as a "real-world incident."

The network quoted the official as saying it is unusual for bombers to be returned to their home bases instead of being relocated to another base in the region.

The New York Times reported, citing US officials, that the bombers were moved after commanders received new threats regarding an Iran-backed plot targeting the base.

According to the newspaper, a US official said the new information falls under the same threat warnings that appeared three weeks ago, but the situation became urgent during the past 24 hours.

Speculation about the motives behind the incident at the base fluctuated between a terrorist threat and fuel theft, amid record-high fuel prices in Britain this week.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are "strong indications that Iran played a role" in the incident, an accusation rejected by Tehran.

Six British residents living in London who were arrested in connection with the incident were released on bail, including one person holding dual British and Iranian citizenship; all are men in their mid-twenties, which drew criticism from Washington.

Vicky Evans, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement on Thursday that the investigation is "extremely complex," adding that police are looking into "all possible hypotheses, including the possibility of foreign state involvement."

The Iranian Embassy in London announced that it "firmly rejects and strongly condemns" speculation about Tehran's involvement in the incident.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on the X platform that Burnham is "knocking on the wrong door."

Tightened Security
Mystery deepened after British media reported that one of the suspects initially alerted police to the incident, though police did not comment on these reports.

Reports indicated that security measures at the base have been tightened recently.

Britain granted Washington permission in March to use Fairford base to conduct "specific defensive operations inside Iran," and since then, bombers and other US aircraft have been seen taking off from and landing at the base.

The United States has used Fairford base since the early 1990s, notably during the Gulf War and the Iraq War.