IRAN PLOT FOILED: Trump Pulls All 12 Bombers From UK Base
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President Trump says U.S. officials had identified exactly who was behind a specific threat targeting American B-1 bombers stationed at RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, intelligence that prompted the military to pull the entire fleet out almost overnight. All 12 of the B-1 Lancers based at the Gloucestershire airfield flew back to the United States on Sunday as investigators dug into a suspected Iran-linked plot to attack the base and harm the crews stationed there. The bombers, which had been used in past strikes on Iran, departed in a rapid, closely guarded operation, with the Pentagon confirming the move only after it was already complete for security reasons. British officials have pointed to strong indications of Iranian involvement, though Tehran has denied any role and summoned the UK ambassador over the accusation.
At the same time, tensions are boiling over at sea. A tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile on Monday, sparking a fire in its engine room, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency, in what marked the latest in a string of attacks on commercial shipping in the waterway over just the past few days. CENTCOM says U.S. forces have now redirected 130 commercial vessels as part of the ongoing naval blockade against Iran, a campaign aimed at choking off traffic to and from Iranian ports while keeping the broader strait open to neutral shipping. Between the bomber scare in the UK and the mounting chaos in the Gulf, the standoff with Iran is clearly far from over, and both fronts appear to be heating up at the same time.