Downing Street has insisted RAF Fairford is secure a day after the US air force suddenly withdrew a dozen B-1 bombers that had been stationed at the Gloucestershire base over security concerns about a possible threat from Iran. The prime minister’s spokesperson, speaking during a scheduled briefing, said “yes” when asked if the military site was safe – contrasting with the concern the US military revealed during the hasty redeployment the day before. Pointing to comments made last week by the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, the official said there were “tried and tested approaches to defend our bases around the country and throughout the world”.
Aircraft trackers reported that an entire squadron of 12 B-1 bombers based at Fairford had redeployed from the British base to the US on Sunday, a rapid movement that the Pentagon confirmed on Sunday evening. US officials told the New York Times commanders had received new information about an Iran-backed plot against the base, which has been on high alert for more than a week. Some of the bombers left so quickly that refuelling aircraft had to be scrambled to support their flights to the US.
UK sources said they were not aware of a new terrorism threat to the base and that they would be surprised if Iran had the capability to orchestrate a fresh threat, a week after five men from London were arrested in the small hours of the night having driven to a village near the base in white vans with an unclear purpose. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Monday that the redeployment of the bombers was not tied to the arrests and tried to downplay any discrepancies with the UK. He said the US was confident in the security of all its bases and “with the Brits, we’ve worked very closely a long time, including on this investigation, and they couldn’t be more cooperative”.
Downing Street’s comments were the first made by the UK in the light of the US withdrawal. No comment was made by the Ministry of Defence or Gloucestershire police when asked if there was any additional threat to residents near the base. Other UK officials indicated they had not been briefed on US thinking.
RAF Fairford has already been on high alert for several weeks amid heightened US concern that Tehran could try to instigate an attack on the base, which was used for US air force bombing runs against Iran earlier this year. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in July that the base was a legitimate military target. The hasty redeployment arguably represents a victory for Iran, forcing US bombers to retreat without any kind of attack taking place, though some experts said Washington was engaging in a wider redeployment that could lead to a scaling up of operations against Iran after the US midterm elections in November.
It is unclear what level of threat Tehran could pose to a base in the heart of the UK, though Iran has destroyed US planes on the tarmac during fighting this year. Missiles fired from Iran may be able to reach the UK but would be likely to be shot down first, and a drone attack would be a high-risk operation close to the base. Experts said the size of the airbase meant it was difficult to protect from a short-range drone attack, perhaps similar to the attempt to bomb Ukrainian cargo planes at Leipzig airport in Germany in August, which the country’s authorities attributed to Russia.
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