Greece has moved a Patriot air defence battery to the island of Crete to reinforce protection of the Souda Bay military complex, Greek media have reported. The transfer began in the early hours of August 23, according to the newspapers Kathimerini and Parapolitika.
The battery, its personnel and its equipment were shipped from the eastern Aegean island of Karpathos, where it had been stationed since March. It is to be deployed close to the Souda base in northwest Crete.
Souda Bay hosts naval and air facilities used by the Greek armed forces as well as by the United States and NATO. That makes it one of the most important allied hubs in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Greek defence ministry did not comment on the reported transfer, AFP said. Defence sources quoted by Greek media called the move precautionary and said Athens did not read it as a sign of an imminent attack.
The relocation follows a Financial Times report that Iranian planners had assessed strikes on US military assets in Europe should Washington escalate the conflict. Bulgaria and Cyprus, both EU member states, were named in that report as possible targets.
Allied assessments cited by Greek media hold that Iran retains ballistic missiles with ranges of more than 2,000 kilometres, placing parts of southeast Europe within reach.
Athens is in contact with Washington and Jerusalem over potential threats to installations in Greece and Cyprus, the same reports said. It is also considering reinforcing Bulgaria’s air defences if Sofia makes a formal request.
Sofia has taken the opposite course. Two US KC-135 refuelling aircraft left the Bezmer air base in southeast Bulgaria on August 21, weeks before the October 1 expiry of the parliamentary authorisation for their deployment.
Bulgarian defence minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the tankers had flown only training missions over allied airspace and that his country had “no information about direct threats to our national security”. The US Air Force said the aircraft had left to meet other operational requirements.
Both moves come as US President Donald Trump presses an economic campaign against Tehran, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising an “economic D-Day”. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has threatened to halt oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz if neighbouring states join that campaign.
Greece is separately weighing whether to end the Patriot deployment it has maintained in Saudi Arabia since 2021 and bring the unit home.
