U.S. military moves aircraft from RAF Mildenhall base in U.K. to Germany, Spain, reportedly due to Iran threat

The U.S. military moved nine Stratotanker refueling planes from a base in England to facilities in Germany and Spain on Monday, and The Wall Street Journal quoted sources as saying they had been repositioned due to a threat from Iran.

It is unclear whether the threat was imminent or general, the sources told the newspaper.

CBS News Confirmed found public aircraft tracking data showing 10 KC-135 Stratotankers were moved from Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall, in southeast England to other locations. One landed at Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland, while four went to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany and one landed at Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters of the U.S. Forces Europe, also in Germany. 

Four more Stratotankers left Mildenhall and arrived Monday at Morón Air Base in southern Spain.

“We take proactive measures to ensure our aircraft, our people, and our installations remain safe and secure,” a U.S. official told CBS News on Tuesday, without commenting on specific aircraft movements. 

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. It is unclear whether all of the movements were linked to the reported threat from Iran.

A U.S. Air Force spokesperson told CBS News that aircraft routinely “rotate between installations and operating locations for a variety of reasons including training and real world requirements.” 

The spokesman added that “U.S. military aircraft are hosted in accordance with access, basing, and overflight agreements with our Allies and partners. Due to operations security, we will not provide further information on movement of assets.”

The U.S. Air Force 100th Air Refueling Wing, which has been based at RAF Mildenhall for years, did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment on the aircraft movements. The 100th air wing is the only permanent U.S. refueling wing in Europe. 

The relocation of the aircraft comes just over a month after the U.S. Air Force decided to remove all of its long-range bombers from RAF Fairford, another air base in England that had been used to launch strikes on Iran, following a security incident there.

On Sept. 27, five British men were arrested on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offenses close to the Fairford base. The suspects were later released on bail. A month later, two men were charged with security-related offenses in connection with the incident.

Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, was charged with “assisting a foreign intelligence service” and “engaging in conduct that was likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service in carrying out U.K.-related activities.”

Nouman Essghir, also 24, was charged with a national security offense after he “approached or was in the vicinity of a prohibited place and his conduct was for a purpose that he knew, or having regards to other matters known to him ought reasonably to have known, was prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.”

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said at the time that Iran was believed to have “played a part” in the September incident, though he did not provide any details.

“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex and serious police investigation, and of course we are working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America,” Burnham told the BBC in October.

U.K. counterterrorism police said no explosives were found in extensive searches of the three vehicles operated by the men arrested near RAF Fairford, only some fuel and a number of large, mostly empty plastic drums.