US withdraws B-1 bombers from base in England after threats of Iranian-backed attack

The United States rushed this weekend to withdraw all 12 Air Force B-1 bombers from an air base in southern England after commanders received new threats about an Iran-backed plot against the facility, two American officials said Sunday.

The withdrawal was extremely unusual. Movements of this type are rarely carried out so quickly from an allied air base in a peacetime country, thousands of kilometers from a combat zone.

The need to remove the bombers from the base, RAF Fairford, was considered so urgent that some of the aircraft and their crews left while in-flight refueling planes were still hastily mobilized to support the journey to the United States.

At least three aircraft had landed at their home base in South Dakota by Sunday, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The Pentagon's European Command confirmed that the bombers had left England, but declined to comment on the new warnings.

"We can now confirm that all American bombers deployed to RAF Fairford are returning to their home bases in the United States," the command said in a statement. "United States Air Force bombers regularly operate in various parts of the world to support global force readiness and operational needs."

American officials declined to specify the nature of the new information that led to the rapid withdrawal of the Air Force bombers, some of which had just arrived the previous week as part of a normal rotation of forces.

A US official said the new information was part of the same threat alerts that emerged three weeks earlier, but that specific details and the perception of urgency had increased in the past 24 hours, alarming commanders.

The sudden withdrawal of the bombers came a week after British police arrested five men who had been seen, the previous Sunday morning, in white vans near the base, used by American bombers in the US and Israeli war against Iran.

The men were released on bail a day later after authorities found no explosives in the vans.

But police have repeatedly said the men remain under investigation, and a dual British and Iranian national was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the previous week that the British government believed Iran had participated in the planning of these events. American and British, as well as German and Israeli, officials believe the operation is linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard or another military headquarters in Tehran. Iran denied the accusations.

The episode left authorities facing a series of puzzles as they try to clarify the events of the past week, including the arrests, the frantic evacuation of 85 homes, the use of a bomb disposal robot to search vans for explosives and a national security meeting called by Burnham.

In July, Iran's Revolutionary Guard released a statement warning that allowing the United States to use the base "makes London responsible" for American actions. "Any base used to launch attacks against Iranian territory," the statement said, "is a legitimate target for our forces."

In September, American military commanders received a terrifying warning from intelligence agencies in the United States and other Western countries, according to American officials briefed on the matter: RAF Fairford was the target of a possible Iranian-backed attack.

The hazy contours of a plan had been pieced together through a combination of intercepted communications, informants, and other intelligence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's intelligence services had also warned British counterparts about a likely Iranian-sponsored attack, although they did not indicate a specific target. Confidential assessments warned that later attacks would likely include drones.

After that initial warning last month, concern among officials across Europe increased dramatically. According to a senior American official, Israel warned Germany that US bases in the country were at high risk, highlighting, in particular, Spangdahlem and Ramstein.

An Iranian-backed plan to carry out an attack on Britain would represent a major escalation by Tehran against a Western country, apparently in retaliation for the United States and Israel's war on Iran.