US tankers leave second British airbase after reported Iran threat

Several US military aircraft left a British airbase on Monday after a reported threat from Iran, the second such move from a base in the United Kingdom in recent weeks.

Two US refuelling tankers using RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk diverted to Germany earlier in the day, and several other tankers were later moved to Germany and other locations, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported, citing The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper attributed the move to a threat from Iran, though Al Jazeera said it reported that US officials were still discussing the precise nature of the threat.

The US also raised the security posture at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath to Force Protection Condition Charlie, Al Jazeera reported, citing The Wall Street Journal. It is the second-highest defensive threat level in the US Department of Defense’s system and applies when intelligence indicates that a terrorist action is likely, according to Al Jazeera.

British officials did not confirm why the aircraft moved. “We do not routinely comment on the activity of other nations,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said. “Aircraft and other assets move regularly according to operational requirements.” A US Air Force spokesperson said aircraft rotate between installations and operating locations for various reasons, Al Jazeera reported.

Asked about the aircraft leaving Mildenhall, British education secretary Lucy Powell told BBC Breakfast: “Obviously I can’t comment on ongoing operational matters but rest assured that we take the security and safety of our bases incredibly seriously and we will always act on security intelligence when we need to.”

The move follows the withdrawal of US bombers from RAF Fairford after a suspected Iran-linked security incident. Al Jazeera reported that five men were arrested outside the airbase in September and two others were later arrested on suspicion of assisting Iranian intelligence. The circumstances of the incident remain largely unexplained, the outlet said, but the US removed its B-1 bombers from Fairford on security grounds.

Fairford had been used by US bombers that carried out strikes on Iran, Al Jazeera reported. Iran’s ambassador to the UK has denied accusations of involvement in any plot against the base. The outlet also reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in July that Fairford and any other base used to launch attacks against Iran were legitimate targets.

Lord Ricketts, a former UK national security adviser, said the size of tanker aircraft and the long perimeter of an airbase made them vulnerable. “Nobody knows at this stage what this information was,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I suspect part of it is an abundance of caution.”