At least 10 U.S. Air Force refuelling tankers left a second airbase in Britain on Monday, with one outlet reporting an undisclosed threat from Iran forced the departure.
The evacuation comes weeks after the U.S. withdrew its bombers from RAF Fairford airbase over a suspected Iran-linked security incident, as Breitbart News reported.
Flight tracking data seen and reported by BBC Verify shows the aircraft left RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and landed at other American bases in Europe and also at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire.
The Wall Street Journal reported this was in response to a threat from Iran.
It is unclear whether the threat was imminent or general, the sources told the newspaper.
Asked about Monday’s flights, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson told the BBC: “We do not routinely comment on the activity of other nations. Aircraft and other assets move regularly according to operational requirements.”
The BBC report set out the destinations for the departed aircraft:
Two aircraft that left initially flew to US bases in Germany and Italy.
The first KC-135 then returned to Mildenhall before heading east and landing at Spangdahlem airbase in Germany.
The other aircraft – having flown circuits over Aviano airbase in Italy – flew on to and landed at Spangdahlem.
Three U.S. Osprey tiltrotor transport planes also departed RAF Mildenhall and arrived Tuesday at RAF Lakenheath, another base used by the U.S. in England, CBS News reported.
Former UK National Security Adviser Lord Ricketts told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are talking about an airbase which houses these large tanker aircraft. Of course, they are large targets, an airbase has a long perimeter, so they are inevitably vulnerable.”
He added: “Nobody knows at this stage what this information was. I suspect part of it is an abundance of caution.”
