Rubio starts European tour in Iceland to boost security ties

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, on the first leg of a four-day European tour, during which he will also visit Greece and Portugal.

“Economic and security collaboration” tops the agenda for his talks on Monday with Icelandic officials, according to a statement from the Department of State.

Ahead of his departure, he told reporters he would not directly tie the US decision to remove its B-1 bombers from Britain’s Fairford airbase to last week’s incident.

“I wouldn’t just directly tie that to the move that was made,” Rubio told reporters, adding that “the Department of War is constantly reallocating resources where they need to be”.

Rubio asserted confidence in the security of all US bases and praised the cooperation of authorities in the United Kingdom.

Five British men were arrested near the base on suspicion of preparing “terrorist acts” and were later released on bail. A sixth man, a dual UK-Iranian national arrested separately in London, has also been released on bail.

B-1 bombers, which had been used for strikes on Iran, flew home to the US.

President Donald Trump later confirmed that “some threats” prompted the US to pull its bombers from the UK.

“There were some threats, and rather than tempting the enemy, we’ll capture the enemy and beat the enemy. But why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit, not very far,” Trump told reporters at the White House earlier on Monday as he departed for an election event in Nebraska.

However, a NATO military source said: “It is still believed that Iran poses an acute threat to US assets in the UK”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard previously said the Fairford base was a legitimate target, but Tehran denied any links to last week’s incident.

Rubio is also visiting Greece to lead the US delegation for the sixth US-Greece Strategic Dialogue, focusing on defence cooperation and regional and energy security. He is due to wrap up his tour in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, where he will discuss defence, economic and technology cooperation.