What happened
The U.S. military removed aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in England on Monday following threats attributed to Iran, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by the New York Post. Two refueling tankers heading to the base were diverted to Germany Monday morning, while additional tankers already at RAF Mildenhall were moved off the installation later in the day.
The report did not specify whether the threat was imminent or more general. RAF Mildenhall is located roughly 80 miles northeast of London.
Monday’s action follows a similar move in early October, when the U.S. withdrew a fleet of 12 B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford, about 90 miles west of London. That redeployment came after authorities exposed a drone attack plot linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and foiled an alleged van bomb plot targeting the base, resulting in the arrest of five suspects.
Congressional leaders and the intelligence committee leaders known as the Gang of Eight received briefings on Iran’s threats to U.S. interests on Monday as Congress returned to Washington following the midterm elections.
In an October memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that Iran had substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel and that lethal plotting against U.S. citizens had reached advanced stages in the Middle East and certain other countries. Rubio told reporters in Paris that the administration had addressed the warning by moving people away from the threat.
President Trump said he did not view resuming strikes on Iran as necessary, citing ongoing negotiations and the preference of Middle Eastern partners such as Saudi Arabia to continue blockading Iranian trade rather than resuming full-scale war. He also wrote on Truth Social that the United States remains “locked and loaded” and ready to act if developments in the Middle East change.
