The U.S. military has removed all of its bombers from Royal Air Force Fairford, a base that authorities in the United Kingdom called the target of a suspected terror plot.
The Pentagon confirmed the redeployment of the aircraft in a statement Sunday.
“While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States,” the Pentagon statement said. It gave no further details.
U.S. bombers have taken off from RAF Fairford for strikes on Iran.
The decision to return the aircraft comes a week after five men were arrested near the base on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act and of violating Britain’s Explosives Act. The three vans found with five men were inspected, and no explosives were found.
The five suspects were released on bail the day after their arrest. On Oct. 1, British police arrested another man with dual British-Iranian citizenship suspicion of his involvement with the plot. He was also released on bail, authorities said Saturday.
In an interview with BBC on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that there were “there are strong indications” that Iran was involved in the suspected terror plot.
Iran’s embassy in the U.K. denied any involvement with the plot in a statement to social media on Sept. 28.
Earlier this year, former U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer granted a request from the U.S. to use the base for “specific and limited” defensive strikes against Iran. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned that decision.
The post U.S. military removes bombers from U.K. base targeted in suspected terror plot appeared first on Washington Post.
