US aircraft leave UK base after Iran threat, reports say

US military aircraft left RAF Mildenhall in eastern England after a purported threat from Iran, the Wall Street Journal and Sky News reported.

The Wall Street Journal said a number of American refuelling tankers were evacuated from the base on Monday, citing people familiar with events. It said the precise nature of the Iranian threat was still under discussion among US officials.

Sky News said on Tuesday that 12 aircraft left Mildenhall on Monday, including nine tankers and three Osprey transport aircraft, citing flight tracking sources.

A British defence ministry spokesman told AFP that Britain does not routinely comment on the activity of other nations and that aircraft and other assets move regularly according to operational requirements.

The reports came weeks after the United States withdrew B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford, another UK base, due to what President Donald Trump said were unspecified threats linked to Iran. Seven people were arrested over an alleged plot to target that base, and counter-terrorism police later charged two of them with national security offences.

RAF Mildenhall hosts the US Air Force's 100th Air Refueling Wing.