American military aircraft departed a second British airbase on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal. Two refueling tankers based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, diverted to Germany earlier in the day, and additional tankers at the same base were also subsequently relocated to Germany and other sites.
The newspaper, citing U.S. officials, said the movements were made in response to a threat from Iran. The development follows the withdrawal of U.S. bombers from RAF Fairford weeks earlier after a suspected Iran-linked security incident.
Official Responses.
A British Ministry of Defence spokesman downplayed the evacuation, telling the BBC: “We do not routinely comment on the activity of other nations. Aircraft and other assets move regularly according to operational requirements.”
Education Secretary Lucy Powell, asked about the aircraft movements from Mildenhall, told the broadcaster: “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.”
Lord Ricketts, a former British National Security Adviser, said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program that Mildenhall houses large tanker aircraft that present sizable targets and that airbases with long perimeters are inherently vulnerable. “Nobody knows at this stage what this information was,” he added. “I suspect part of it is an abundance of caution.”
RAF Fairford.
U.S. B-1B Lancer bombers abandoned RAF Fairford after a group of migration-background men, including at least one British-Iranian dual national, were arrested near the base in September and held on suspicion of committing offenses under the Explosives Act 1875 and the Terrorism Act 2006. Controversially, they were all subsequently released on bail, with supporters of the Labour government suggesting they had turned out to be petrol thieves.
The Trump administration expressed alarm at this decision, indicating that they had evidence the group was linked to organized terrorism, and subsequent reports and government statements indicated the group’s activities were linked to Iran. In late October, two members of the group, identified as British citizens Nouman Essghi and Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, were charged under Section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 in connection with the incident.
