US bombers pulled from RAF Fairford in face of ‘some threats’, says Trump

Donald Trump says there were “some threats” that led the United States to pull bombers from a UK base.

The US president said the military aircraft “didn’t fly out by accident” from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had sought to play down the withdrawal of the planes after suggestions the move was linked to security concerns.

The top diplomat would not link the departure of the jets to a recent suspected terror plot targeting the base.

But asked as he left the White House on Monday if the planes had been moved in response to a threat, Mr Trump said: “Yeah, I think we can say that. They didn’t fly out by accident.

“No, but there were some threats and rather than tempting the enemy, we’ll capture the enemy and beat the enemy.

“But why should we keep them there? So we moved them around a little bit, not very far.”

He added: “We actually know the people who made the threat.”

US Vice President JD Vance said the planes had been redeployed “out of an abundance of caution, trying to protect our guys”.

Speaking as he left Washington to travel to Alaska, he told reporters: “I think that we’re going to be as careful as we possibly can be.”

Donald Trump speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday (Tom Brenner/AP)

AP

He added: “We do feel with some confidence that the Iranians are, you know, they’re trying to do what the Iranian state has done for 49 years, which is engage in acts of terrorism against the United States and against a lot of other people as well, so we are being extremely cautious.”

But Mr Rubio said he “wouldn’t directly tie” the redeployment of the planes to the recent security alert close to the base.

He added: “It’s not unusual to see movement of assets to different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployments, people changing out and new people coming in, new planes coming in and old planes going out.”

Six men have been arrested over the past week in connection with a suspected plot targeting RAF Fairford, which had been hosting US bombers involved in strikes against Iran.

The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that the aircraft that were stationed at the base had been “redeployed to their home stations in the United States”, but stressed the US Air Force retained the ability to strike “anywhere, any time”.

US officials told The New York Times the redeployment of the bombers had been ordered after more specific details about threats to the base emerged over the weekend.

On Monday, Downing Street declined to comment on the withdrawal of US bombers but insisted RAF Fairford was safe.