Akrotiri, Cyprus — Britain is not at war, the government said on Monday, despite the US saying it would allow British bases to be used during the war with Iran and after the Royal Air Force base in Cyprus was struck by an Iranian-made drone.
Sirens blared again at RAF Akrotiri on Monday and British fighter jets scrambled in response to the new threat.
Two decades after Britain followed the United States into a disastrous war in Iraq, it is trying to avoid being drawn into a new Middle East conflict with unforeseen consequences.
UK officials say an attack drone crashed on the runway at RAF Akrotiri, a British air base in Cyprus, late on Sunday. There were no injuries and “minimal” damage, but the strike brought the conflict to European soil.
It was not immediately clear whether the drone was launched by Iran or by a Tehran-backed militant group such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
About 12 hours later, sirens blared again as two Typhoon fighter jets and a pair of F-35 fighter jets roared through the air. A resident showed The Associated Press a text message sent by the source authorities warning of an “ongoing security threat” and urging people to stay indoors and away from windows.
The Cypriot government said on Monday that two drones bound for Cyprus were intercepted.
Akrotiri is the UK’s main air base for operations in the Middle East and has been used by British warplanes in recent years in operations against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, and to strike Houthi targets in Yemen.
The eastern Mediterranean island retained Britain’s base after gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1960, and another in Cyprus.
There was a previous attack in 1986 when Libyan militants hit the base with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, injuring three people.
As tensions between the US and Iran rise, Britain last month deployed extra F-35 fighter jets with radar, counter-drone systems and air defenses to Akrotiri as part of “defensive measures”.
Families of UK personnel living at the base are being moved to nearby accommodation as a precaution, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday.
British officials have refused to say whether the UK would support a US-Israeli war on Iran. He said Iran could not have a nuclear weapon and called for a halt to Iranian attacks and a diplomatic solution.
Britain did not take part in the strikes on Iran that began on Saturday and did not allow the US to use UK bases in England or on Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean.
But on Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Stormer announced that he had agreed to allow the US to use the bases for attacks on Iran’s missiles and their launch sites. He said the change came in response to Iranian attacks on UK interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf and was legal under international law.
Britain has said its bases will not be used for attacks on political and economic targets in Iran.
“We are not joining these strikes, but we will continue our defensive measures in the region,” Stormer stressed.
US President Donald Trump told The Daily Telegraph on Monday he was “very disappointed in Kiir”, saying the prime minister “took too long” to change his mind about the use of British bases.
“The UK is not at war,” Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer said on Monday. He told the BBC that Iran had ballistic missiles “pointed towards the Gulf and it was essential to pull out those missile launches in the face of these completely reckless attacks”.
The memory of Iraq remains fresh for many in Britain. Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to join the US-led invasion in 2003 was one of the most controversial in modern British history.
The ensuing years of conflict killed 179 British troops, nearly 4,500 American personnel and thousands of Iraqis.
The current government is keen to prevent a repeat, but critics say efforts to set firm limits on Britain’s involvement could be undermined by a fast-moving conflict.
“Just as we were in Iraq, we are being drawn into an incredibly dangerous situation following the US,” said John McDonnell, a lawmaker from the ruling Labor Party.
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An illegal report from London.
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