Planes were moved to GermanyUS European Command cannot discuss force protection measuresEducation minister says Britain takes security seriously
Thhe US military evacuated planes from a second British airbase on Monday after a threat from Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, weeks after Washington withdrew bombers from another British base over suspected Iran-linked security threats.
Two US refueling tankers that were using the RAF Mildenhall base were diverted to Germany earlier on Monday, while several other tankers at the base were moved to Germany and other locations later in the day, the WSJ report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
In September, the United States removed bombers, which had been used to strike Iran, from RAF Fairford base on security grounds after a group of men approached the base in white vans. Two men were charged last month in relation to that incident, with prosecutors alleging one of them had tried to assist Iranian intelligence in Britain.
According to the Journal, the precise nature of the latest threat to RAF Mildenhall, a base in eastern England about 140 miles away from RAF Fairford, remains under discussion among US officials.Asked about the reports, the US European Command said on Tuesday that the US Air Force moves aircraft between locations for a variety of reasons, but declined to comment on any specific movements.
‘For operational security reasons, we are unable to discuss specific force protection measures,’ a spokesperson said. ‘We constantly assess a variety of factors that determine what measures are implemented or modified.’
HIGHER THREAT LEVEL
The US upgraded the security posture at RAF Mildenhall and another UK base, RAF Lakenheath, to FPCON Charlie, the second-highest defensive threat level, the WSJ report said, citing a US official familiar with the matter.Force Protection Condition (FPCON) Charlie occurs when intelligence indicates that a form of terrorist action is likely.
Asked about the situation at RAF Mildenhall, British education minister Lucy Powell told the BBC she could not comment on ‘ongoing operation matters’.’We take the security and safety of our bases incredibly seriously, and we will always act on security intelligence when we need to,’ she said.
The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.
The Fairford incident, which remains 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 United States and Iran.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last month that the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been coordinated in Iran.
While Tehran's ambassador to Britain has denied accusations that it was involved in any plot against the airbase, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in July that the Fairford base and any other base used to launch attacks against Iran were legitimate targets.
