The Pentagon said bombers deployed to RAF Fairford had returned to US bases after security concerns, and Downing Street said the Gloucestershire base was safe.
The United States has withdrawn the B-1 bombers that had been operating from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a move the Pentagon confirmed after the aircraft returned to home stations in the United States. A Pentagon spokesman said operational security had prevented real-time confirmation, but that all US bombers deployed to the base had redeployed.
BBC News reported the aircraft were thought to number about a dozen. Defense News, citing a Pentagon official and Reuters, said a dozen B-1s had been stationed at the base and had been used for strikes on Iran. The withdrawal followed arrests near the base in late September and British statements that there were strong indications of Iranian involvement in a suspected plot. Iran has called those accusations baseless.
Downing Street said on 5 October that the base was safe and declined to comment on another country's military operations. The BBC reported that Whitehall sources had not disputed that Washington's decision followed the incident at the base, and that the BBC had been told the move was taken at an operational level.
Vice-President JD Vance described the withdrawal as an abundance of caution and said Washington believed Iran was engaging in terrorism. President Donald Trump later said the bombers were moved because of some threats and that the United States had shifted the planes rather than tempting an adversary, the BBC reported. The New York Times reported that commanders had received new details about an Iran-backed plot, according to US officials.
British police had earlier said a dual UK-Iranian national arrested on suspicion of plotting an attack had been released on bail. Officials have not published a full public account of the latest threat information.