President Donald Trump has confirmed that an Iranian threat was behind the abrupt withdrawal of the entire US B-1 bomber fleet from Britain, which took place within hours in an unusually rapid operation.
"Yes, we can talk about it, they didn't fly out of there by accident," Trump told reporters when asked about the incident. "There were some threats, and instead of tempting the enemy with the opportunity, we're going to catch the enemy and defeat him. Why leave them there? We moved them a little, but not too far."
According to American reports, the White House feared an attack modeled on Ukraine's "Spider" operation, in which dozens of drones were smuggled into Russia and launched from within its territory against Russian air bases. That strike destroyed large portions of Russia's bomber fleet.
US officials were concerned that Iranian operatives or assets may already have positioned aircraft or drones inside Britain, allowing an attack to be carried out with no warning. The bombers were therefore pulled out of the UK in an unusually swift evacuation.
