The United States evacuated American aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in England on Monday after a threat from Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Two US refuelling tankers that had been using the Suffolk base diverted to Germany earlier on Monday morning, and several other tankers were moved to Germany and other locations later in the day, according to flight-tracking data and an official familiar with the matter.
The precise nature of the threat to Mildenhall — whether imminent or more general — remains under discussion among US officials, the people said. A US Air Force spokesperson declined to give details about the movement of assets, saying only that American aircraft rotate between installations and operating locations for a variety of reasons.
The move comes after the Pentagon last month sent B-1 bomber aircraft back to the United States from another base in England, RAF Fairford, as officials grew concerned about a complex Iran-backed plot to kill American pilots and target the aircraft using drones and other measures, the Journal has reported.
Tehran has said its retaliation for any US attack on Iran would expand beyond the Middle East. The US and Israel have been at war with Iran since late February, and President Donald Trump said on Monday that fresh American strikes were highly unlikely if talks with Tehran made progress.
The director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, said in October that Iran was in the “advanced stages” of planning to target US personnel in the Middle East, explaining the rationale for a sudden evacuation of diplomats from regional posts.
The security posture at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, both used by the US military, has been raised to FPCON Charlie, which applies when intelligence indicates that a form of terrorist action is likely, according to a US official familiar with the matter. The change was earlier reported by The War Zone, a military news site.
Note: this report is single-sourced to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter; the US Air Force has not confirmed the reason for the aircraft movements.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal — https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-aircraft-evacuated-from-second-u-k-base-due-to-iran-threat-835a8b58 ; Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-aircraft-evacuated-second-uk-base-due-iran-threat-wsj-reports-2026-11-10/
