First Comment from Rubio on the Withdrawal of American Bombers from a British Base

- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed the significance of the withdrawal of American bombers from the Royal Air Force base in Fairford, United Kingdom, stating that he would not link "directly" the events of last week to the movements of U.S. military assets. Rubio told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Monday: "The only reason you are focusing on the number of aircraft in Fairford is the threat that occurred last week.

However, it is common to witness rotations and transfers of military assets to different parts of the world, based on training, redeployment operations, personnel changes, or the arrival of new aircraft and the departure of older ones." The U.S. Secretary of State affirmed that the United States is "confident in the security of all our bases, as any of them could theoretically be threatened at any moment."

He noted that the United States has worked closely with the British for a long time, including cooperation on the investigation related to Fairford base. According to a U.S. official, the Trump administration on Sunday moved all of its long-range bombers stationed in the United Kingdom back to their home bases in the United States, following an unspecified new threat.