Iran Has Been Linked To The RAF Fairford Base Incident. The U.S. Now Evacuated a Dozen Of Bombers From It.

The U.S. military evacuated a dozen planes from the RAF Fairford airbase following the incident which U.S. and British authorities linked to Iran.

The Pentagon detailed in a statement that the planes have been flown back to the United States. "While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States," the document added.

Several other aircraft remain at the base and are "ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities — including through operations that launch and recover from the continental United States."

A U.S. official said the base is under threat of attack by Iran, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that the country gave the UK intelligence showing that.

A UK-Iranian national was arrested in London on Thursday in connection with the incident. The 27-year old man was arrested in London, while another man has been questioned under caution. Two properties in the area have also been searched, the BBC reported. The men caught near the Royal Air Force base remain free on police bail.

The development took place shortly after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said his government believes Iran played a role in the incident.

"There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford," Burnham told the BBC earlier on Thursday. He did not elaborate on the claims.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also said that the incident involved a "foreign actor" but claimed he wouldn't "get into detail about that yet."

"I think it ties us to the reality here, and that is, we are dealing with elements in the world, and in the case of Iran, for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interests globally," Rubio said. "We're going to always take that very seriously. There will be repercussions for that, if it ever were to happen or even attempted."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected Burnham's claim, saying he is "barking up the wrong tree."

"I can confirm Iran's belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all," he added, in reference to the fact that the five suspects were released on bail earlier this week. Burnham said the men were subject to the "strictest possible bail conditions".

"The authorities have this under the strongest grip and closest control, and I can assure you of that," he added.