By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 18 Jun 2025 • 18:43
• 2 minutes read
At least 30 US military planes have been moved from bases in America to Europe over the past three days amid reports that the United States has an aircraft carrier en route and several fighter jets to the Middle East, according to the BBC and Reuters.
The British broadcaster stated on Wednesday that they have verified the movement of US planes, which are all US military tanker aircraft used to refuel fighter jets and bombers. The BBC also reported that Flightradar24 tracked at least seven KC-135 aircraft to US airbases in Spain, Scotland, and England.
“The flights come as Israel and Iran continue to exchange strikes, after Israel launched an operation on Friday that it said was to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme,” the British news outlet said. However, they said it was not confirmed that the military plane movement was directly connected to the Israel-Iran conflict.
‘Highly unusual’ movements
One expert told BBC Verify that the tanker aircraft flights were “highly unusual”, and came at a moment when other reports reveal that the aircraft USS Nimitz was navigating from South China through the Malaca Straight toward Singapore yesterday on a clear path to the Middle East.
On Tuesday, Reuters released an exclusive report stating that the US military is deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes, thereby bolstering its air presence in the region.
Without specifying the number, three U.S. officials told Reuters that the deployments included F-16, F-22, and F-35 fighter aircraft.
A fourth US official told Reuters that Washington might order the deployment of additional U.S. Navy warships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Purely defensive in nature
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth assured the deployments were purely defensive in nature, as the United States intends to protect its forces in the Middle East from potential blowback from Iran and Iran-aligned armed groups in the region.
The US has nearly 40,000 troops stationed permanently in the Middle East region, including air defence systems, fighter aircraft and warships that can detect and shoot down enemy missiles.
VP suggests the US could intervene
Also on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance took to social media. He suggested that the US could intervene to support Israel’s campaign, writing on social media that Trump “may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian (uranium) enrichment.”
Tehran is believed to run two principal underground enrichment sites. Israel has already hit Natanz, and Fordo is buried deep within a mountain complex near the city of Qom.
To penetrate the Fordo facility, the US would likely have to use the only munitions capable of going that far, the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), two senior Western military officers told BBC Verify.
In the meantime, Israel and Iran enter their sixth day of conflict, which began on Friday when Tel Aviv ordered air strikes that caused extensive damage to an Iranian nuclear facility and the death of several military leaders. So far, Israeli attacks across Iran have killed at least 240 people, while Iranian attacks have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to Al Jazeera.
