US bombers have been spotted taking off from RAF Fairford just hours after Donald Trump vowed to inflict ‘death, fire and fury’ on Iran.
The aircraft are part of a growing fleet that have arrived at the UK base in recent days ahead of anticipated airstrikes over Iran. Earlier on Tuesday, three more £300million US B-1 bombers – including one called ‘Seek and Destroy’ – landed at RAF Fairford.
Almost a quarter of America’s active B-1B ‘Lancer’ fleet has crossed the Atlantic and landed at the UK base, as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared Tuesday would be ‘most intense’ day of strikes on Iran so far.
President Trump also claimed in recent days that ‘we haven’t even started hitting them hard’ and that ‘the big one is coming’. In response today, Iran threatened him with ‘elimination’.
With the arrival of the latest bombers this afternoon, RAF Fairford had 11 of the US Air Force’s 45-strong fleet of B-1s on its Tarmac, up from eight yesterday. The three new B-1s that arrived from the US on Tuesday are nicknamed ‘Seek and Destroy’, ‘Polarized’ and ‘Bad Moon Rising’.
Yesterday, three B-52 Stratofortresses able to carry 31 tonnes of weapons, including the infamous ‘Iron Butterfly’, landed in Gloucestershire to create an armada of 14 of the US air force’s heaviest bombers in Britain and within striking distance of Tehran.
All the bombers were undergoing checks on Tuesday from ground crew, including of their bomb compartments. Nearby service personnel carried out the delicate task of checking munitions including missiles to be loaded, using a mini crane.
There have also been 25 planes carrying crew, munitions and supplies landing at RAF Fairford to support the US bomber fleet over the past five days.
The huge build-up of bombers at RAF Fairford and today’s departures suggests the stage is now set for a new wave of heavier and more sustained airstrikes over Iran in the coming days.
US bombers have been spotted taking off from RAF Fairford just hours after Donald Trump vowed to inflict ‘death, fire and fury’ on Iran
The huge build-up of bombers at RAF Fairford and today’s departures suggests the stage is now set for a new wave of heavier and more sustained airstrikes over Iran in coming days
Members of the US Air Force (USAF) lift missiles and bombs for loading on to planes at RAF Fairford
Personnel work on the bomb compartment of a B1 bomber today as the US threatened its heaviest bombing campaign of the war with Iran so far
As American bombers prepared to strike from the UK, it also emerged today:
- Donald Trump said the war could be over ‘very soon’ and claimed the US has ‘already won’ but Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ‘not done’ with Iran;
- Iranian security chief Ali Larijani warned Donald Trump to ‘be careful not to be eliminated’;
- Oil prices dipped following Trump’s announcement as the President indicated he will waive some sanctions on oil due to market turmoil;
- Britain is preparing to send a second ship, RFA Lyme Bay, to the Mediterranean to potentially help with evacuations from the Middle East;
Donald Trump last night insisted the war in the Middle East was ‘pretty much’ over.
He claimed the American- Israeli operation launched ten days ago was ‘very far’ ahead of schedule.
The American President even described the massive onslaught as a ‘short-term excursion’ which will be ‘finished pretty quickly’.
Initial US estimates suggested the conflict could last between two weeks and two months.
But as the number of B-1 and B-52 bombers now in Britain built up – ready to be called into action – Mr Trump claimed Iran had ‘nothing left’.
He said: ‘The war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.
‘Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones. There’s nothing left in a military sense.’
Mr Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin for an hour yesterday about the conflict in a conversation described as ‘frank and businesslike’ by Moscow.
While Tehran promised to increase its missile launches, the President warned: ‘They’ve shot everything they have to shoot, and they better not try anything cute or it’s going to be the end of that country.’
Later, he told Republicans gathered in Miami: ‘We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil.
‘I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.
‘We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all. We’re going to have a much safer world as soon as it’s finished, and it’s going to be finished pretty quickly.’
11 B-1s are now parked on the Tarmac at RAF Fairford – all are being checked for take off this afternoon
A U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber deploys a parachute as it lands at RAF Fairford yesterday
Mr Trump also repeated the assertion that the US action had been pre-emptive. He declared: ‘Within a week they were going to attack us. They were ready. They had all these missiles, far more than anyone thought, and they were going to attack us, but they were going to attack all of the Middle East and Israel.’
The US military said it has struck more than 5,000 Iranian targets and destroyed 50 vessels since Operation Epic Fury began.
Meanwhile Britain was left embarrassed by France with Emmanuel Macron ordering an ‘unprecedented’ deployment to the Mediterranean and Middle East. As the UK struggled to mobilise even a single warship, the French president put on a display of diplomatic power.
He set out plans for French vessels to protect the Strait of Hormuz trade route which Iran has closed, causing a blockade of the world’s oil and sending prices shooting up yesterday.
And he was warmly welcomed on Cyprus, where hundreds of British families at RAF Akrotiri have been forced to shelter from Iranian suicide drones.
While events played out on the international stage, Britain was once again left lagging behind.
As Defence Secretary John Healey admitted another delay sending the destroyer HMS Dragon to the war zone, Mr Macron was hugged by his Cypriot counterpart on the tarmac after his presidential plane taxied to a halt at Paphos airport.
Amid the bonhomie, Mr Macron pledged to protect the 25-mile Hormuz Strait by sending a fleet of eight ships, where they are expected to join US forces – but only after ‘the end of the hottest phase of the conflict’.
In an apparent swipe at Keir Starmer as the Royal Navy stayed at home despite the drone strike on Akrotiri on the second day of the conflict, the French president said ‘an attack on Cyprus is an attack on all Europe’.
‘The defence of Cyprus is obviously a key issue for your country, for your neighbour, partner and friend, Greece, but also for France and, with it, the European Union,’ he told Nikos Christodoulides.
Meanwhile, the £1billion HMS Dragon will spend at least another two days in Portsmouth before setting off, Mr Healey said. She is then expected to take a week to reach Cyprus, by which point, Italian, French, Spanish and Netherlands ships could be already in situ.
The RAF has intercepted drones from Iranian forces and proxies. Defence sources confirmed the engagements over Jordan and Bahrain last night. The attack submarine HMS Anson is also understood to have been diverted from exercises in Australia to head for the Middle East.
But Downing Street sources were forced to dampen speculation that HMS Prince of Wales is to set sail for the Middle East.
The £3.5billion aircraft carrier had been placed on an advanced state of readiness, only for Mr Trump to tell the UK in Saturday: ‘We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’
