(AFP) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday British military bases in Cyprus will not be used by the United States in its war with Iran, despite criticism from US President Donald Trump. Starmer’s government has been swept up in fallout from the spreading war in the Middle East.
On Sunday, Iranian-made drones hit a British base in Cyprus. Trump meanwhile slammed the UK leader’s initial refusal to allow the use of British military facilities. Starmer announced on Sunday he had agreed to a US request to use British bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose”. But in comments to parliament on Monday, he said this would not include bases on the Mediterranean island. “The bases in Cyprus are not being used and not going to be used by the US… because they’re not suitable,” he said.
Iranian-made drones hit the UK’s Akrotiri air force base, which lies on the southern tip of the island. A Cypriot government source told AFP the attack had been launched from nearby Lebanon, probably by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The source said “it has been confirmed” the drones — one of which struck a runway — had set off from Lebanon. When asked if Hezbollah had launched them, the source said “most likely”.
Starmer stressed to MPs that the attack was “not in response to any decision that we have taken” and was launched before the UK announcement that it would allow the United States to use its bases. The area around the Akrotiri base was evacuated, the Cypriot interior ministry said. Paphos airport in western Cyprus was also temporarily evacuated but it was later operating as normal, an airport official said. More than 60 flights were cancelled at Larnaca and Paphos airports, the official added. Larnaca is on the southeastern coast. The evacuations came after two drones headed towards Akrotiri were also intercepted earlier Monday.
“As a precautionary measure we are moving family members who live at RAF Akrotiri to alternative accommodation nearby on the island of Cyprus,” the UK defence ministry told AFP, although the base continued to operate normally. The damage was “minimal” and there were “no casualties,” a spokesperson added.
UK ‘not at war’ – Greece said it was sending two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus. Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said he would travel to Cyprus on Tuesday. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said the incident just after midnight (2200 GMT) involved “a Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle”. UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper said the government was “working on every possible option” to help an estimated 300,000 British nationals in the Gulf region return home if needed.
Britain’s Middle East minister Hamish Falconer insisted the nation was “not at war.” “Let me be really clear: the UK took a deliberate decision not to be part of the first wave of strikes conducted by the United States and Israeli governments.” But in the face of reckless attacks from Iran… we took the decision, as the prime minister announced last night, to support the US’s request to use our bases in order to conduct defensive actions,” he added.
Trump said he had been “very disappointed” in Starmer’s initial position. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Trump described the prime minister’s later decision to allow the use of bases on specific grounds as “useful” but said it “took far too much time.”
Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think tank, said that Britain would not want to be “seen as a key party in this conflict.” “Hence allowing defensive not offensive strikes, although the difference between the two is, in practice, often very minimal,” she said.
– Martin POLLARD with Etienne Torbey in Akrotiri
© 2024 AFP
