As U.S. President Donald Trump signaled additional strikes on Iran on the 7th local time, U.S. bombers were deployed to a Royal Air Force base in mainland Britain.
According to British outlets BBC and ITV, four U.S. B-1 Lancer bombers arrived one after another at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire between the afternoon of the previous day and the morning of the day.
RAF Fairford in southwest England is a base the U.S. military has used as a forward operating location for long-range bombing missions during the Iraq War, the Kosovo War, and the Libya air campaign.
However, ahead of the current strikes on Iran that began on the 28th of last month, tensions rose between the United States and Britain over the use of the base. The White House's operational plan included using RAF Fairford and the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, but the British government initially refused on the grounds of violating international law.
Subsequently, on the 1st, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reversed course and allowed use of the two bases only for a "specific and limited defensive purpose." However, President Trump criticized that it "took far too long" for Starmer to change position.
Britain and several other European countries view the U.S. and Israel's preemptive strike on Iran—carried out under the justification of a "preventive strike"—as a violation of international law and are taking a cautious stance on U.S. requests to use their bases.
France did not take part directly in the strikes on Iran and, with the condition that its support be limited to defending Middle Eastern countries, made the Istres Air Base in southern mainland France available to the U.S. It is understood the base is hosting aerial refueling tankers rather than fighters or bombers.
Even after allowing use of the bases, Prime Minister Starmer said, "This government does not believe in regime change from the air (by bombing)," voicing a critical stance toward the current strikes aimed at toppling Iran's theocratic regime.