Rubio starts European tour in Iceland to boost security ties

Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House on Monday [AFP]

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.

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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.

周一，唐纳德·特朗普在白宫向记者发表讲话 [法新社]

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥抵达冰岛首都雷克雅未克，开启为期四天的欧洲之行，期间他还将访问希腊和葡萄牙。

据美国国务院声明，周一他与冰岛官员会谈的首要议题是“经济和安全合作”。

美国向波兰部署5000名士兵，加剧欧洲的不确定性（共4条，第1条）

意大利最高外交官取消访美行程，此前梅洛尼称特朗普捏造事实

特朗普称与丹麦达成的协议赋予美国对格陵兰岛的“永久控制权”（共4项，此为第3项）

列表 4/4：美国能否从欧洲撤出三分之一的军队？这意味着什么？

在离开之前，他告诉记者，他不会将美国从英国费尔福德空军基地撤走 B-1 轰炸机的决定与上周的事件直接联系起来。

“我不会直接把这件事和采取的行动联系起来，”鲁比奥告诉记者，并补充说，“战争部一直在将资源重新分配到需要的地方”。

鲁比奥对所有美国军事基地的安全充满信心，并赞扬了英国当局的合作。

五名英国男子因涉嫌策划“恐怖袭击”在基地附近被捕，后获准保释。第六名男子，一名拥有英国和伊朗双重国籍的公民，在伦敦单独被捕，也已获准保释。

曾用于轰炸伊朗的 B-1 轰炸机飞回了美国。

唐纳德·特朗普总统后来证实，“一些威胁”促使美国从英国撤回了轰炸机。

“确实存在一些威胁，与其挑衅敌人，不如我们俘虏敌人，击败敌人。但我们为什么要把他们留在那里呢？所以我们稍微转移了一下他们的位置，但没转移太多，”特朗普周一早些时候在白宫告诉记者，当时他正准备前往内布拉斯加州参加一场竞选活动。

然而，一位北约军事消息人士表示：“人们仍然认为伊朗对美国在英国的资产构成严重威胁”。

伊朗革命卫队此前曾表示，费尔福德基地是一个合法目标，但德黑兰否认与上周的事件有任何关联。

鲁比奥此次访问希腊，还将率领美国代表团参加第六届美希战略对话，重点讨论防务合作、区域安全和能源安全等议题。他此行的最后一站是葡萄牙首都里斯本，届时他将与葡萄牙方面探讨防务、经济和技术合作。