Rubio: No direct link between US bombers removal and UK base incident

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press before boarding a plane en route to Iceland at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on October 5, 2026 [AFP]By AFP and ReutersPublished On 5 Oct 20265 Oct 2026US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the first leg of a four-day European tour in which he will also visit Greece and Portugal.“Economic and security collaboration” top the agenda for his talks on Monday with Icelandic officials, according to a statement from the Department of State.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4US deepens European uncertainty with deployment of 5,000 troops to Polandlist 2 of 4Italy’s top diplomat nixes US trip after Meloni says Trump fabricated storylist 3 of 4Trump says deal with Denmark gives US ‘permanent control’ over Greenlandlist 4 of 4Could US pull one-third of troops from Europe? What that would meanend of listAhead of his departure, he told reporters he would not directly tie the United States’ decision to remove its B-1 bombers from the British base of Fairford to last week’s incident.“I wouldn’t just directly tie that to the move that was made,” Rubio told reporters, adding that “the Department of War is constantly reallocating resources where they need to be”.Rubio asserted confidence in the security of all US bases and praised United Kingdom authorities’ cooperation.Five British men were arrested near the British airbase at Fairford on suspicion of preparing “terrorist acts”, and were later released on bail. A sixth man, a dual UK-Iranian national arrested separately in London, has also been released on bail.B-1 bombers were returned to the US. They had been used for strikes on Iran.A NATO military source had, however, said: “It is still believed that Iran poses an acute threat to US assets in the UK”.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards previously said the Fairford base was a legitimate target, but Tehran denied any links to last week’s incident.Rubio is also visiting Greece to lead the US delegation for the sixth US-Greece Strategic Dialogue, focusing on defence cooperation and regional and energy security, and will wrap up his tour in Lisbon, where he will discuss defence, economic and technology cooperation.