Iran has warned that Britain’s RAF Fairford is a ‘legitimate target’ after the US used the base to launch a B1 bomber raid.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement threatening the ‘British regime’ with attacks if it continues to support America’s war effort against Tehran.
‘The aggressive US military, which had been using cruise missiles from its ships in the Indian Ocean in its aggressions after the official resumption of the war, turned to using B1 aircraft flying from Fairford Air Base in England […] as the missile reserves of the aforementioned ships ran out,’ the statement said, according to the IRNA news agency.
‘As Foreign Ministry officials have also clarified, any base used to invade Iranian territory is our legitimate target,’ it added.
According to US news website Axios, the B1 – which can carry two-dozen 2,000lb bombs – took off from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Tuesday.
It marks the first such mission launched from the UK since Andy Burnham became prime minister.
It was also the first time the US has carried out a B1 mission since fighting in Iran resumed nearly two weeks ago.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Burnham, who took power on Monday following Sir Keir Starmer‘s formal resignation, had approved the use of UK military bases by the US.
Iran has warned that Britain’s RAF Fairford is a ‘legitimate target’ after the US used the base to launch a B1 bomber raid
This screen grab from handout video footage released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on July 17 shows what the US military says are precision strikes on strategic Iranian military sites
Military personnel gather next to a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber parked on the tarmac at RAF Fairford in south-west England on March 10
It is not currently known what the B1’s target in Iran was, but Axios reports the long-range plane was used to hit IRGC assets.
During Operation Epic Fury, B1s were used to hit missile bases, command centres, weapons storage facilities and air defence systems.
Burnham had agreed to continue Starmer’s policy of allowing Washington to use the air base in Gloucestershire, as well as Diego Garcia airfield in the Chagos Islands for ‘defensive strikes’, according to Bloomberg.
‘We warn the British monarchy, which is the main cause of the misfortunes of the people of our region and has a dark record of dividing Islamic countries […] not to burden itself any further with this case,’ the IRGC’s statement said.
The military group accused the UK of causing ‘widespread massacres’ in Islamic countries, ‘imposing authoritarian governments’, and organising ‘the occupation of Palestine and the creation of the Israeli Nakba’.
The Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, refers to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The statement also condemned Britain for the ‘greatest participation in the recent aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime’, referring to Israel.
Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, has long been against the government’s policy of permitting the US to use British airbases during the war – prompting concern from the White House over his appointment.
In February, he led opposition on the National Security Council to the use of UK bases for US bombers, triggering tension across the Atlantic.
Donald Trump warned on Wednesday he would hit a bridge or power plant for every vessel Iran attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.
It came as oil prices climbed back above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months – after Iran-backed Houthi militants struck two Saudi oil tankers as part of its naval blockade on Saudia Arabia.
The attack risks creating a second chokepoint on the world’s oil supplies amid Iran’s near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 per cent of the globe’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows.
The Yemeni group said it deployed missiles and drones to strike the vessels Encelia and Layla, accusing them of violating its embargo of the Red Sea.
It followed the Houthis’ announcement this week they were imposing a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia – threatening to unravel a four-year ceasefire with the kingdom.
The benchmark oil price surged sharply on Thursday, after reaching $95 a barrel the day before amid concerns that Yemen’s militia could strangle Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea.
Trump unleashed a 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iran, threatening intense attacks on the nation’s power plants and bridges, with the Islamic Republic also firing at targets in the Middle East.
The Houthis control northern Yemen, including territory along the Bab el-Mandeb, a vital maritime trade route that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Arden and the Indian Ocean.
While the rebels have not formally announced the closure of the waterway, as some had feared might happen, the militia group’s threat to ships using Saudi ports has raised serious concerns over the safety of navigating a channel used by 7 per cent of global maritime traffic.
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File image: oats float near the coast of Bab el-Mandeb, Yemen April 2, 2026
Pictured: Houthi supporters hold up their weapons during a protest against Saudi Arabia
Even before the group’s renewed threats to shipping traffic in the Red Sea, Tehran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz had already stoked inflation around the world, pushing up oil prices and raising fears of a global recession.
The rebels said the operation against the Saudi tankers used cruise missiles and drones, claiming ‘precise’ strikes on both ships that caused blazes to break out on board.
Naval operations against the kingdom would continue, they added.
They also said Yemeni armed forces had made about 10 vessels ‘retreat and return’.
The group warned that any military action against Yemen would trigger major operations ‘deep within’ Saudi territory, cautioning against further escalation.
The Saudi Arabian state news agency SPA, citing an official source at the General Transport Authority, said an attack caused a fire on the bow of the tanker Encelia but all crew members were safe.
SPA did not say who had targeted the vessel.
Authorities have secured the vessel and its crew and taken measures to protect the marine environment, describing the attack as a violation of international law, SPA reported.
A maritime security source said earlier on Thursday that the Encelia had transmitted a distress call via VHF radio, reporting it had been struck by a missile while operating at the outer port limits of Saudi Arabia’s Jizan, in the Red Sea, and was on fire.
Five tankers changed course in the Red Sea to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday, and three tankers loaded with Saudi oil for China and India made U-turns on Tuesday.
It remains unclear how fully the Houthis could enforce a naval blockade against the kingdom, but the threat could compound the shock of the Hormuz closure – endangering Riyadh’s ability to bypass the strait for some oil exports.
Millions of barrels per day of Saudi oil has been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea’s southern strait, they have only the northern route through the Suez Canal, adding weeks and costs to the journey.
The Houthi threat to impose a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia could significantly widen the war and strain the US military, current and former US officials said.
Two Chinese crude carriers carrying a combined four million barrels of Saudi Arabian oil were heading toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Thursday, shipping data showed.
It comes as Britain withdrew remaining diplomatic staff from Iran as the conflict with the US continued to escalate with a twelfth night of airstrikes and attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea.
A statement on the Foreign Office (FCDO) website said: ‘Due to the security situation, UK staff have been temporarily withdrawn from Iran. Our embassy continues to operate remotely.’
The FCDO advises against all travel to Iran, saying British and dual British-Iranian residents face ‘significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention’.
A similar move was made in February ahead of the start of US and Israeli combat operations.
US Central Command said late on Wednesday that the 12th night of attacks was designed to ‘further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters’.
Announcing the end of the latest wave of strikes on Thursday morning, they said US forces struck military targets including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and air defence assets.
‘The strikes further degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels,’ they said on X.
Missiles struck near the cities of Ahvaz, Ramshir and Andimeshk in western Iran, according to Iranian state media, who said two people were killed in the town of Shalamcheh on the Iraqi border.
Kuwait’s army said on X that the country’s air defences were ‘confronting attacks by hostile drones, following the sinful Iranian aggression’.
The US president had warned earlier that one bridge or power plant would be destroyed for each ship shot at by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
‘From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,’ Trump wrote on social media.
Scattered debris and smoke, at an unknown location, during what CENTCOM says are strikes on Iran
Heavy machinery is targeted at an unknown location, during what CENTCOM says are strikes on Iran
Foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi also said an ‘eye for an eye’ approach would be adopted by Iran.
‘Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response,’ he posted on X on Wednesday.
Iran’s army and its Revolutionary Guards on Thursday said they attacked several US bases in Kuwait following attacks by American forces on Iran.
They also attacked and destroyed several American military assets in Jordan.
The targets included a radar for the US THAAD missile defence system, a Patriot system, a C-RAM radar and a helicopter hangar, according to a statement from the Guards aired by state TV.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they stopped three oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington and Tehran continue to vie for control over the vital waterway.
In recent weeks, Iran has hit tankers using a route hugging the Omani coast to traverse the strait, in a bid to strongarm vessels into using its own waters and pay for safe passage.
‘Three oil tankers, provoked and tempted by the child-killing American army, were trying to pass through the mine-laid route south of the Strait of Hormuz, but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back,’ the Guards said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media.
‘The Strait of Hormuz is under our control… and any ship that is deceived by the US and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate,’ the statement added.
The statement did not say when the incident happened.
Donald Trump will allow Saudi Arabia to develop its own civilian nuclear program under a sweeping new deal as the Iran war spirals into the Red Sea
The 11th night of strikes on Iran into Wednesday saw air defences opening fire over the capital Tehran.
Iran launched a missile attack on a Jordanian city while alerts were sounded in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Iran has responded to US attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants which provide drinking water in neighbouring Gulf countries.
The Guards claimed attacks on Ali Al Salem base, Camp Udairi and a telecommunications tower, while the army said it targeted Camp Doha, Ali Al Salem base and Camp Arifjan, according to separate statements by the forces carried by state TV.
International law generally prohibits such attacks unless the infrastructure is being used for military purposes.
The US on Wednesday announced a landmark deal with Saudi Arabia that would establish a civilian nuclear program in the Gulf country, with Washington insisting the agreement includes nonproliferation safeguards.
The move comes as Trump fights a war with Iran that began in large part over concerns with Tehran’s nuclear program – an issue that remains a key point of contention during now-stalled peace talks.
Two agreements – one on ‘peaceful nuclear cooperation’ and another on ‘bilateral safeguards’ – were signed by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the US Energy Department said.
The text of the deals was not immediately made public.
‘Together, these two agreements lay the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation,’ the department said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has previously vowed that his country would ‘without a doubt’ build nuclear weapons if Iran developed them.
The kingdom has faced mounting drone and missile attacks by Iran on its military and civilian infrastructure since Tehran’s war with the US resumed earlier this month.
Saudi officials insist the program is strictly civilian and will allow the kingdom to power its homes with nuclear energy, freeing up more crude for export.
A government spokesperson said on Thursday: ‘Our Armed Forces are ready to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad. The UK stands ready 24/7 to defend itself.
‘This includes through operating a layered approach to air and missile defence, provided by Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force assets equipped with a range of advanced capabilities, working closely with our Nato allies.
‘The UK’s approach to the conflict remains the same – we are committed to defending our people, our interests and our allies, acting in accordance with international law and not getting drawn into the wider conflict.’
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