Three additional US B-1 bombers, each valued at £300 million and one notably named ‘Seek and Destroy,’ touched down at RAF Fairford this afternoon. This move follows President Donald Trump’s stern warning to unleash ‘death, fire, and fury’ on Iran.

Nearly 25% of the active B-1B ‘Lancer’ fleet from the United States has now arrived at the UK base. This comes shortly after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that Tuesday would mark the ‘most intense’ day of military strikes against Iran thus far.

President Trump recently stated that ‘we haven’t even started hitting them hard’ and alluded to ‘the big one’ being imminent. In retaliation, Iran issued a threat today, warning of Trump’s ‘elimination’.

By this afternoon, RAF Fairford is hosting 11 of the 45 B-1s from the US Air Force fleet, an increase from eight the previous day. The newly arrived B-1s from the US are nicknamed ‘Seek and Destroy,’ ‘Polarized,’ and ‘Bad Moon Rising.’

Yesterday, three B-52 Stratofortresses, each capable of carrying 31 tonnes of weaponry, including the notorious ‘Iron Butterfly,’ landed in Gloucestershire. This has brought the total to 14 of the US Air Force’s heaviest bombers positioned in Britain, within striking range of Tehran.

Today, all the bombers are undergoing thorough inspections by ground crews, focusing on their bomb compartments. Nearby, service personnel are meticulously checking and preparing munitions, including missiles, with the aid of a mini crane.

There have also been 25 planes carrying crew, munitions and supplies landing at RAF Fairford to support the US bomber fleet over the past five days. 

The huge build-up of bombers at RAF Fairford suggests that the stage is now set for a new wave of heavier and more sustained airstrikes and bombings of Iran in the coming days. 

Mr Hegseth said: ‘Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever’.

A US Airforce B-1 bomber comes in to land at RAF Fairford

Members of the US Air Force (USAF) lift missiles and bombs for loading on to planes at RAF Fairford

Personnel work on the bomb compartment of a B1 bomber today as the US threatened its heaviest bombing campaign of the war with Iran so far

As American bombers prepared to strike from the UK, it also emerged today:

• Donald Trump said the war could be over ‘very soon’ and claimed the US has ‘already won’ but Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ‘not done’ with Iran;
• Iranian security chief Ali Larijani warned Donald Trump to ‘be careful not to be eliminated’;
• Oil prices dipped following Trump’s announcement as the President indicated he will waive some sanctions on oil due to market turmoil;
• Britain is preparing to send a second ship, RFA Lyme Bay, to the Mediterranean to potentially help with evacuations from the Middle East;

Donald Trump last night insisted the war in the Middle East was ‘pretty much’ over.

He claimed the American- Israeli operation launched ten days ago was ‘very far’ ahead of schedule.

The American President even described the massive onslaught as a ‘short-term excursion’ which will be ‘finished pretty quickly’.

Initial US estimates suggested the conflict could last between two weeks and two months. 

But as the number of B-1 and B-52 bombers now in Britain built up – ready to be called into action – Mr Trump claimed Iran had ‘nothing left’.

He said: ‘The war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.

‘Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones. There’s nothing left in a military sense.’ 

Mr Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin for an hour yesterday about the conflict in a conversation described as ‘frank and businesslike’ by Moscow.

While Tehran promised to increase its missile launches, the President warned: ‘They’ve shot everything they have to shoot, and they better not try anything cute or it’s going to be the end of that country.’

Later, he told Republicans gathered in Miami: ‘We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil.

‘I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.

‘We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all. We’re going to have a much safer world as soon as it’s finished, and it’s going to be finished pretty quickly.’

11 B-1s are now parked on the Tarmac at RAF Fairford – all are being checked for take off this afternoon

A U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber deploys a parachute as it lands at RAF Fairford yesterday

Mr Trump also repeated the assertion that the US action had been pre-emptive. He declared: ‘Within a week they were going to attack us. They were ready. They had all these missiles, far more than anyone thought, and they were going to attack us, but they were going to attack all of the Middle East and Israel.’

The US military said it has struck more than 5,000 Iranian targets and destroyed 50 vessels since Operation Epic Fury began.

Meanwhile Britain was left embarrassed by France with Emmanuel Macron ordering an ‘unprecedented’ deployment to the Mediterranean and Middle East. As the UK struggled to mobilise even a single warship, the French president put on a display of diplomatic power.

He set out plans for French vessels to protect the Strait of Hormuz trade route which Iran has closed, causing a blockade of the world’s oil and sending prices shooting up yesterday.

And he was warmly welcomed on Cyprus, where hundreds of British families at RAF Akrotiri have been forced to shelter from Iranian suicide drones. 

While events played out on the international stage, Britain was once again left lagging behind.

As Defence Secretary John Healey admitted another delay sending the destroyer HMS Dragon to the war zone, Mr Macron was hugged by his Cypriot counterpart on the tarmac after his presidential plane taxied to a halt at Paphos airport.

Amid the bonhomie, Mr Macron pledged to protect the 25-mile Hormuz Strait by sending a fleet of eight ships, where they are expected to join US forces – but only after ‘the end of the hottest phase of the conflict’.

In an apparent swipe at Keir Starmer as the Royal Navy stayed at home despite the drone strike on Akrotiri on the second day of the conflict, the French president said ‘an attack on Cyprus is an attack on all Europe’.

‘The defence of Cyprus is obviously a key issue for your country, for your neighbour, partner and friend, Greece, but also for France and, with it, the European Union,’ he told Nikos Christodoulides.

Meanwhile, the £1billion HMS Dragon will spend at least another two days in Portsmouth before setting off, Mr Healey said. She is then expected to take a week to reach Cyprus, by which point, Italian, French, Spanish and Netherlands ships could be already in situ.

The RAF has intercepted drones from Iranian forces and proxies. Defence sources confirmed the engagements over Jordan and Bahrain last night. The attack submarine HMS Anson is also understood to have been diverted from exercises in Australia to head for the Middle East.

But Downing Street sources were forced to dampen speculation that HMS Prince of Wales is to set sail for the Middle East.

The £3.5billion aircraft carrier had been placed on an advanced state of readiness, only for Mr Trump to tell the UK in Saturday: ‘We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’