Iran, it seems, was plotting an Operation Spiderweb-type attack on US bombers and personnel at the RAF Fairford base.
You may recall that operation, where Ukraine smuggled drones into Russia and released them next to an airbase, disabling or destroying Russian strategic bombers thousands of miles from the Ukrainian border. It was a tactical masterstroke, and Iran planned a strikingly similar attack on British soil.
Ukraine released the full video of Operation Spiderweb https://t.co/TkBDXwLpr1
— Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) June 2, 2026
And the men arrested and subsequently released appear to have been part of the plan, as guns for hire whose job it was to create a distraction for the main attack.
Breaking News: The U.S. abruptly withdrew aircraft from a British base because of new intel about a potential attack by Iran, officials said. https://t.co/Gpw1YzFiii
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 6, 2026
None of this is established beyond a reasonable doubt, but the evidence was clear enough to create the conditions that led to the repositioning of the B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford back to the continental United States.
The United States abruptly withdrew all 12 B-1 Air Force bombers from an air base in southern England based on new information that commanders received about a potential drone attack ordered by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to U.S. and British officials.
The suspected attack was part of a complex, multipronged Iranian plot to strike aircraft and kill some of the several hundred American personnel stationed at the base, R.A.F. Fairford, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. All of the Air Force bombers were withdrawn over the weekend.
Some of the officials said they believed that the plot was loosely modeled on an audacious attack that Ukraine launched against Russia last year when it smuggled drones deep into the Russian heartland and launched them from semi trucks. The attack destroyed or damaged at least a dozen aircraft, including many of Moscow’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers, on runways in Siberia and Russia’s Far North.
We have always worried about terrorist cells in Western countries, and with good reason. But Iran has found a novel way to get around the problem of such cells being potentially compromised: find guns for hire to do much of the work. Offer thugs money to do a specific job in their wheelhouse, ask few questions, and avoid direct connections between the criminals and the IRGC; the result is that everyone could be blindsided.
At least that is the idea, although in this case the idea didn't play out as the Iranians hoped.
President Trump said on Monday that people linked to Iran posed a threat to the U.S. bombers at the British air base, prompting the order to return them to the United States. “There were some threats,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “Why should we leave them there?” he added, referring to the bombers.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the drone threat as the reason for the withdrawal.
The sudden pullout of the bombers came a week after the British police arrested five men who had been traveling the morning of Sept. 27 in white vans near the base, which has been used by American bombers in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. The men were released on bail a day later after the authorities did not discover explosives in the vans.But the police have repeatedly said the men remain under investigation, and a British-Iranian dual national was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.
The rushed order to withdraw the bombers was highly unusual: Such moves are rarely made so quickly from an allied air base in a peacetime country thousands of miles from a combat zone.
If nothing else, the potential terrorist attack has exacerbated tensions between the United States and the United Kingdom. President Trump has made clear that he is very unhappy that the U.K. let the terrorists out on bail, while the British say they are just following procedure and the men remain under investigation.
Trump said previously that the U.K. nationals arrested near the base last week intended to do “big damage” and that they had been under investigation. He said he disagreed with the U.K.’s decision to release them on bail.
U.K. officials caution that while Iran has publicly threatened British bases and clearly presents a threat, there is no evidence that Tehran could launch such an elaborate operation against Fairford. Iran has targeted other British bases abroad during the war, including Akrotiri in Cyprus and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
British police are still probing how and why five masked men were near Fairford air base last week after driving from London in vans containing barrels of fuel. The U.K. government said there are strong indications the plot is linked to Iran but hasn’t provided more detail. The men were arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist act but were then released on bail. They haven’t been charged with a crime.
A sixth man, a dual U.K.-Iranian citizen, was arrested days later on suspicion of plotting a terrorist act but was also released on bail.
Iran has a record of hiring criminal proxies to carry out attacks in Europe, typically focused on Jewish sites or dissidents of the regime.
Concerns about the strategic and tactical implications of Operation Spiderweb have circulated in military circles ever since Ukraine succeeded in blindsiding the Russians. Bases once considered safely behind the lines are now suddenly vulnerable, and militaries are playing catch-up. High-tech, billion-dollar bombers thought to be out of the line of fire are suddenly potentially vulnerable.
In that light, nothing about Iran's efforts or U.S. concerns is mysterious; what is bizarre is how the U.K. is treating the whole incident. One would not expect a security service to scoop up men who appear to be part of a complicated military operation on its soil and then let them walk out the door.
Brendan O'Neill: https://t.co/7BAqMZF2a4
— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) October 6, 2026
But then again, this is the United Kingdom, and from what I can tell, none of the men involved is white, a British nationalist, or against mass migration. That makes them clean as a whistle.
At least until they post a mean tweet.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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