https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/us/politics/us-bombers-britain-raf-fairford-iran.html
The withdrawal came with unusual speed, following what U.S. officials said were threats of an Iran-based plot against the installation.
The United States rushed over the weekend to withdraw all 12 B-1 Air Force bombers from an air base in southern England after commanders received new threats about an Iran-backed plot against the installation, two U.S. officials said on Sunday.
The withdrawal was highly unusual: Such moves are rarely made so quickly from an allied air base in a peacetime country thousands of miles from a combat zone.
The need to move the bombers out of the base, R.A.F. Fairford, was deemed so urgent that some of the planes and their flight crews left while aerial refueling aircraft were still being scrambled to support their flights to the United States. At least three of the planes had landed at their home base in South Dakota by Sunday, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
The Pentagon’s European Command confirmed on Sunday that the bombers had left England but declined to comment on any new warnings.
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Article continues at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/us/politics/us-bombers-britain-raf-fairford-iran.html
dizzy: I linked to this US article because the UK media is omitting the urgency with which the planes were removed [ed: and] is strongly speculating that it is related to or caused by security concerns following a security incident or scare at RAF Fairford.
It’s speculation and it would be equually valid to speculate that it was decided to abruptly terminate US-Israel’s war on Iran ahead of the Midterm elections at the defence chief’s meeting or that there was an assessment concluding that majority opinion in UK has turned against US/UK’s Zionist support of genocide and neo-colonialism and that as a consequence the aircraft were at risk. We need to see what happens next.
[23.58 The security incident is so concocted that it should be dismissed as fake news. I would expect that Donald Trump is unable to discern that as a consequence of his condition. It’s also unlikely that he has any real power for the same reason.]
Demonstrators from CND and Fairford Action during an emergency protest outside the main gate of RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, following an attack on Iran by a US B-1 bomber stationed there earlier this week, July 25, 2026
