US aircraft evacuated from second British base due to Iran threat: report

The US military has evacuated aircraft from a second airbase in Britain after a threat from Iran, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources, weeks after Washington withdrew its bombers from RAF Fairford airbase over a suspected Iran-linked security incident.

Two US refuelling tankers that were using the RAF Mildenhall military base diverted to Germany earlier on Monday (Washington time), while several other tankers at the base were moved to Germany and other locations later in the day, the Journal’s report said.

According to the Journal, the precise nature of the threat to RAF Mildenhall remains under discussion among US officials.

The US upgraded the security posture at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath to Force Protection Condition (FPCON) Charlie, the Journal said, citing a US official familiar with the matter.

FPCON Charlie is the second-highest defensive threat level in the US Department of Defence’s security system and occurs when intelligence indicates terrorist action is likely.

“We do not routinely comment on the activity of other nations. Aircraft and other assets move regularly according to operational requirements,” a British Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.

A US Air Force spokesperson declined to provide the Journal with details about the movement of assets, but said US aircraft rotated between installations and operating locations for various reasons.

Reuters could not immediately reach the US Air Force, while the White House, the Pentagon and the US European Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Five men were arrested outside RAF Fairford airbase in south-west England in September over a security incident. Two others were arrested later on suspicion of assisting Iranian intelligence.

The circumstances of the incident, which remain largely unexplained, attracted huge international attention, coming at a time of heightened concern about the security implications for Western states of the war between the US and Iran. It prompted the US to remove its B-1 bombers from the Fairford airbase on security grounds.

RAF Fairford had been used by American bombers to carry out strikes on Iran.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last month that the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been co-ordinated in Iran.

While Tehran’s ambassador to Britain has denied accusations that it was involved in any plot against the airbase, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in July that the Fairford base and any other base used to launch attacks against Iran were legitimate targets.

Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.