Trump contradicts Pentagon and Rubio on withdrawal of US bombers from Great Britain

Washington. In the case of the surprising withdrawal of US long-range bombers from a military base in Great Britain, US President Donald Trump contradicted Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Pentagon. There were threats, he told journalists in Washington, without giving further details. "So why would we leave the bombers there? So we moved them a little bit, not very far," Trump continued. When asked by a journalist, he said that the people behind the threat were probably connected to Iran.

On Sunday evening, however, the Pentagon announced upon request that all of its long-range bombers had been ordered back. “We can now confirm that all U.S. bombers based at RAF Fairford have returned to their home bases in the United States,” a U.S. Department of Defense official said.

For operational security reasons, the ministry was previously unable to comment on “movements of our resources and forces in real time,” it said. The British government said through a spokesman that the base was safe. The spokesman referred to statements from Defense Secretary Wes Streeting that there are “tried and tested procedures to protect our bases across the country and around the world.” Military operations by other states would not be commented on.

Hours before Trump's statement, US Secretary of State Rubio expressed himself in a much more cautious manner. The withdrawal is not directly related to suspected terrorist threats. “I wouldn’t link that directly to the transfer decision,” Rubio told reporters. In principle, the relocation is “nothing unusual”.

“We documented what happened last week,” Rubio said. The threat is the reason why so much focus is now being placed on relocating the aircraft. “But it is not unusual for rotations to take place and for military resources to be moved to different parts of the world,” he continued. “But I continue to have confidence in the British security arrangements on the bases and in general.”

According to information from the New York Times, new threats against the military base were the reason for the surprise withdrawal of the US bombers. There is information about an Iranian-backed attack on the base, the newspaper reported, citing two US officials. The US armed forces transferred additional long-range bombers to Great Britain in March in order to be able to act more flexibly in the war against Iran.

According to the New York Times, the need to relocate the bombers away from RAF Fairford was deemed so urgent that some aircraft and their crews had already taken off, while the required tanker aircraft still had to be prepared for support over the Atlantic.

Accordingly, a US official said that the information was part of the warnings from three weeks ago. However, the situation has worsened in the last 24 hours due to specific details.

At the end of September, five men were arrested near the base. You are suspected of preparing a terrorist act. She is also being investigated on suspicion of violating the Explosives Act. They have since been released under strict conditions. A sixth suspect with Iranian-British citizenship was also temporarily arrested in the following days and then released under conditions.