US special forces were captured training in the UK after America cranked up its massive war machine and amassed a fleet of heavily-armed US military planes across Europe.
Footage shows US special forces carrying out fast-rope exercises at an RAF airfield – just days after they captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in an audacious raid.
Crack soldiers were seen rappelling from a CV-22B tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft as part of a military drill.
It comes as the US forces seized a Russia-flagged oil tanker said to be a part of the international “Shadow Fleet” off the coast of Scotland after a two-week chase in the Atlantic.
They also captured a second oil tanker in the Caribbean.
American military activity in the UK appears to be a sign that Washington may be preparing for further operations, but there has been no confirmation.
At least 10 C-17 Globemasters and two heavily armed AC-130J Ghostrider gunships have landed at RAF bases in Suffolk and Gloucestershire in the past few days.
The Globemasters, which are heavy-lift military transport aircraft, are said to be carrying multiple MH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and MH-47G Chinooks.
These are used in special forces operations and are equipped for high-risk infiltration and extraction missions.
The helicopters have been spotted in British hangars, according to flight tracking data and unconfirmed reports that appeared in various military blogs.
Most of the Globemasters touched down at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, but several also landed in RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, The Times reports.
Flight tracking data also shows that several of those Globemasters are moving on to Ramstein in Germany.
An American KC-135R Stratotanker military aerial refuelling plane also landed in the UK yesterday after flying in from the US.
It is believed that some military assets from the buildup were used to seize the Russia-linked oil tanker today.
The rusting Marinera tanker is now in the custody of Washington after the daring maritime operation conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon.
The Russians scrambled a submarine and naval vessels to try and guard the Marinera tanker this morning as it attempted to evade capture after the declaration of Trump’s Venezuela blockade.
A giant American armada comes amid speculations that Donald Trump could potentially launch a slew of military operations across the globe.
The chase comes as Washington squeezes Venezuela’s oil lifeline harder than ever.
Since December 16, when Trump imposed a “total and complete blockade” on sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, more than a dozen vessels have fled the country in what officials describe as a coordinated breakout attempt.
Sixteen tankers – most of them supertankers bound for China – slipped out using deceptive tactics, including fake ship names, falsified locations and switching off tracking signals to operate in “dark mode”.
Satellite imagery shows some sailing east in tight formation. Others have vanished entirely from tracking systems.
US officials view the escape as a direct challenge to American power at sea and a test of Trump’s blockade.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called the quarantine “one of the largest in modern history” and said it is “paralysing” the regime’s ability to raise cash.
Iran Blitz
A similar military buildup was seen last year in June when the US military bombed multiple nuclear sites across Iran.
And history could well repeat itself after Trump threatened to use force and intervene militarily as the Iranian regime violently suppresses protests across the country.
At least 36 people, including childrn have so far been killed in the protests, which are being staged to voice dissent against the Muallahs’ authoritarian regime.
The violent scenes follow a firm warning from Trump that the US is “locked and loaded” and ready to intervene if unrest continues.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned Tehran: “If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protestors, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
The White House has not confirmed what action Washington might take, leaving the threat open to interpretation.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, warned that all US military personnel and bases in the region would be considered “legitimate targets” if Trump acted on his threat.
Iske take that
The US bombing of Venezuela that led to Maduro’s ouster has raised fears of Washington’s annexation of Greenland.
Trump doubled down on threats of an American takeover of Greenland just a day after US special forces carried out the special military operation in Caracas.
Trump has repeatedly said that Washington needs the strategic, resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons – and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.
During a phone interview with a reporter at The Atlantic Magazine, the US president said: “We do need Greenland, absolutely.”
He said that Greenland was “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships”.
“We need it for defence,” Trump added.
The Arctic is increasingly the object of a struggle between international superpowers.
Greenland, located between North America and Europe, is strategic at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the region as the race for rare earths heats up.
Greenland’s location also puts it on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the US.
Russia and China have both ramped up efforts to take control of the region, and concerns exist that America has been caught off guard.
The US has its Pituffik military base in Greenland, an essential part of Washington‘s missile-defence infrastructure.