The US Air Force has moved several refueling tankers out of RAF Mildenhall in eastern England following a threat linked to Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter who were not named. Two tankers were diverted to Germany on Monday, and several more were relocated to other European bases later the same day.
According to the report, US officials acted after receiving a threat alert on Monday. The Wall Street Journal did not publish details of the threat itself, and its specifics and credibility have not been made public. The full scope of the tanker relocations has not been confirmed by the military, so the number of aircraft moved beyond the two diverted to Germany and the several relocated later remains unclear.
RAF Mildenhall hosts the 100th Air Refueling Wing, which the US Air Force describes as Europe's only permanent refueling wing. The base flies KC-135 Stratotankers, aircraft used to refuel other military planes in flight. The wing's position at Mildenhall means that a relocation of its tankers affects the refueling capacity available to US and allied aircraft operating in the region, although the reporting does not say how long the aircraft will remain elsewhere.
US European Command said that aircraft rotate between locations for training and real-world needs. The command declined to provide further detail, citing operational security. It also noted that the basing of US forces rests on access and overflight agreements with allies, arrangements that allow American aircraft to use bases in Europe and to pass through allied airspace. The UK Ministry of Defence said that military assets move regularly and declined to comment on the decisions of other nations.
The move follows a similar episode about two months earlier, when bombers left RAF Fairford, another British base used by US forces. That departure came after a police investigation into a suspected Iran-linked terror plot. Bombers from Fairford had struck Iran during the US-Israeli war, a link that gave the earlier episode a strategic weight beyond the security concern itself. Five men were detained on September 27 after suspicious vans were seen near Fairford, and further arrests followed. Two men have since been charged under the National Security Act.
Whether the Mildenhall relocation is connected to a similar plot has not been established in the reporting available. The public record currently contains the Wall Street Journal's account, the statements from European Command and the UK Ministry of Defence, and the earlier Fairford case. Nothing in those sources links the two events directly, and the Wall Street Journal's unnamed sources have not been identified or confirmed on the record by the Pentagon.