Washington (United States) (AFP) – US forces responded to possible unauthorized drone activity over a military base in Britain Friday, spokespeople from the two countries said, in the latest security incident at a facility hosting American warplanes. “No personnel, aircraft or infrastructure were affected” at the RAF Lakenheath base, a US Air Force spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to work closely with our host nation counterparts to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, US and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families,” the statement added. A spokesperson for Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that account in a statement that said “the situation is now resolved.”
A post on the official RAF Lakenheath Facebook page earlier this week urged people to report “suspicious activity, including unauthorized drone activity.” “Our strongest security asset is an observant community,” the post said. The possible drone incident at Lakenheath came after the US Justice Department announced charges earlier in the week against three men it described as “Iranian operatives” over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at RAF Fairford, another British base. The three men allegedly helped plan and direct the September incident at the base, which came to light when police were called after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in “suspicious” activity.
A US charging document stated that a man identified as Mohammad Ali al-Hassani directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel, and that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel. Days later, the United States withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the base. UK police last month charged two British men with national security offenses related to the RAF Fairford incident. One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, believed to be in Iran, and another with entering a prohibited place for a purpose “prejudicial” to the UK.
Flight-tracking data meanwhile showed Tuesday that the US military had removed at least a dozen aircraft from another British airbase, RAF Mildenhall, following what the Wall Street Journal said was a threat from Iran. The United States has flown military aircraft from bases in Britain as part of the US-Israeli war against Iran sparked earlier this year, which saw Tehran respond by launching missiles and drones at countries across the region, while the militant groups it backs also entered the fray.
In an interview broadcast Wednesday, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened to strike US bases beyond the Middle East, including in Europe, if they are used for attacks against the Islamic republic. Iranian officials have previously threatened to expand the geographic scope of the conflict should the US attack again. In late September, an adviser to Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei publicly mused that the war could “expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond.”
© 2024 AFP
