US removes all bombers from RAF Fairford base

The United States has withdrawn all its bombers from RAF Fairford, a British military base in Gloucestershire, following an incident investigated by counter terrorism police. The decision was made in response to an incident on September 27 when police were alerted to three suspicious vehicles near the base. Five men, all UK nationals from London, were initially arrested on suspicion of terror offences and later released on bail.

A sixth man, a UK-Iranian national, was also arrested and released on bail. Whitehall sources confirmed the decision was a military, not political, one taken at an operational level by the US military. The UK's Ministry of Defence has not commented on the withdrawal. Days earlier, Prime Minister Andy Burnham suggested Iran may have been involved, though he provided no further details, a claim strongly denied by Iran.

The base, used by the US Air Force for decades, had recently been used to launch bombers to the Middle East following a UK request for defensive strikes on Iran. Iran had warned that any base used for aggression against Iranian territory would be targeted. US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump, separately suggested a foreign actor was involved, though President Trump expressed surprise at the released of the five men on bail.