US bomber withdrawal was military not political, BBC told
President Donald Trump has publicly criticised the United Kingdom’s decision to release on bail all six men arrested in connection with a 27 September counter-terror investigation near RAF Fairford, a US Air Force base in Gloucestershire.
Trump said he was “surprised” the five men had been released on bail. “We know everything about them, we would not have released them,” Trump said, adding that the UK had worked with the US “very closely” on the matter.
A US department official confirmed on Sunday that all US bombers at the base have been withdrawn and returned to their home stations in America. A Rockwell B1 Lancer heavy bomber was photographed taking off to depart for home at RAF Fairford on Sunday. The US did not give a reason for the withdrawal.
The BBC has been told the withdrawal was a military rather than political decision, taken at an operational level and communicated from the US military to its British counterparts. Whitehall sources have not disputed that the decision from Washington was in response to the incident at RAF Fairford. The UK’s Ministry of Defence has not commented.
The 27 September incident involved police being alerted to three “suspicious vehicles” near the airbase. Five men, all UK nationals from London aged between 23 and 25, were arrested in the early hours of the morning after the vehicles were reported to be travelling towards the base operated by the US Air Force. They were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and later on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, before being released on bail in what police called an “investigative decision” that was “grounded in experience and strategy.”
A sixth man, aged 25 and a UK-Iranian national, was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Counter-terror police confirmed on Saturday he had also been released on bail.
Days after the incident, and before the arrest of the sixth man, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News that the incident “clearly involve[d] the hands of a foreign actor.” Rubio did not provide further details, saying at the time he was limited on what he could say on air.
Days after the initial arrests, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” that Iran had played a part in the incident but did not provide further details. Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.
RAF Fairford has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force for decades. In recent months, US bombers have taken off from the base for the Middle East, after the UK approved a US request to use it for defensive strikes on Iran. In July, Iran said “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces.”