A B-1B Lancer assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron prepares to refuel midair on July 2, 2025. The U.S. removed its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford in England and returned them to their stations in the U.S. (Halley Clark/U.S. Air Force)
The U.S. military on Sunday pulled a dozen B-1 bombers out of Britain amid security concerns as new warnings point to other potential threats to American bases in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
All U.S. bombers deployed to RAF Fairford returned to their stations in the United States on Sunday, U.S. European Command confirmed Monday.
Operational security “precluded us from initially confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time,” EUCOM said.
The command did not elaborate on what prompted the sudden redeployment, but The New York Times on Sunday reported that the security situation was deemed so urgent that some of the planes departed while aerial refueling aircraft still were being scrambled to support their return to the United States.
EUCOM said the airmen that operate the U.S. bomber force, including B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s, “remain ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities — including through operations that launch and recover from the continental United States — anywhere, anytime.”
The departure of the B-1B Lancer bombers, which had been operating out of Fairford during the U.S. campaign against Iran, came one week after British authorities arrested five men near the installation on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack.
A sixth suspect, a dual British-Iranian citizen, was arrested several days later as authorities investigated possible Iranian involvement .
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said authorities see strong indications of Iranian involvement in the suspected plot.
The security concerns aren’t confined to Britain.
Israel warned Germany of an increased risk of attacks against U.S. military installations there, particularly Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases, The New York Times reported over the weekend. The report cited a senior U.S. official.
U.S. military leaders also received warnings potential Iranian-backed attacks on U.S. facilities in Europe, according to intelligence assessments cited by the Times. The assessments raised the possibility that drones could be used in attacks but did not identify a specific target or timetable.
During the course of the U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran, which began in February, Tehran has issued numerous threats directed at American forces and related bases in Europe used to support operations in the Middle East.
As far back as June, Germany, the United States, Britain and others issued a joint statement condemning what they described as lethal plotting by Iranian intelligence organizations in Europe, North America and Australia. The governments also accused Tehran of using international and local criminal organizations to carry out operations abroad.
Meanwhile, just days before last week’s events at RAF Fairford, Yahya Rahim Safavi, former chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, described Europe as a logistics hub for U.S. forces.
Around the same time, other Iranian outlets mentioned Ramstein, Fairfield and Aviano Air Base, along with U.S. facilities in Greece and Spain, as being part of that logistics network, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks the online activity of Islamic militants.
“Together, the statements demonstrate an increasingly explicit Iranian argument: A military installation does not have to be located in the Middle East — or even belong directly to the United States — to be viewed by Tehran as part of the conflict if it facilitates American military operations against Iran,” the SITE group said in an analysis Wednesday.
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