HMS Dragon will set sail in “the next few days”, the Defense Secretary has said, meaning the British destroyer may not arrive in the eastern Mediterranean until after the weekend.
John Healey told the House of Commons that navy crews were working “tirelessly, 22 hours a day” to prepare the warship, as he faced accusations of not acting quickly enough to protect British interests in the region.
The Labor Minister said proposals to deploy the warship were discussed six days ago and then approved about 36 hours after a drone attacked the RAF airbase in Akrotiri, Cyprus.
That was the fourth day of a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, which began after a highly visible six-week-long buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East and led to an Iranian retaliation against 10 countries in 24 hours.
However, the time it has taken to prepare the Royal Navy destroyer means it is no longer certain that it will reach the shores of Cyprus at the weekend. Sailing time from Portsmouth is estimated between five and seven days.
France has already deployed its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean and French President Emmanuel Macron met with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday.
Britain has faced criticism from Cyprus for not acting quickly enough to protect the country, home to two British bases, after the drone attack. Nearby villages and non-essential personnel were evacuated, while two other incoming drones were intercepted.
James Cartlidge, the shadow defense spokesman, complained that France, Greece and Spain had already sent warships to Cyprus. “Labour’s failure to deploy the Royal Navy to the eastern Mediterranean has completely undermined our international position,” he said.
Healey responded by accusing previous Conservative governments of having “hollowed out and underfunded” British forces, cutting £12bn from the defense budget and reducing the number of frigates and destroyers from 23 to 17.
Three of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 destroyers, equipped with anti-drone systems, were theoretically available for deployment last week, although HMS Dragon had to be removed from drydock maintenance.
Previously, Downing Street had downplayed reports that the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier could be sent to the Middle East amid reports that its preparation time had been reduced to five days. Officials hinted that it was to be sent to the North Atlantic as part of NATO’s commitments to patrol the Arctic region.
Healey told MPs that the drone that attacked Akrotiri was small and came from “Lebanon or Iraq”, meaning UK experts could not yet determine its exact origin. Cypriot sources had suggested a week ago that he had been flown from territory controlled by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
Fragments of the attack drone, previously described as an Iranian Shahed type, were also “being analyzed for foreign military equipment”, Healey said, meaning the UK was not in a position to confirm social media reports that it contained Russian components.
Typhoon pilots shot down two more drones, Healey said. One was successfully intercepted heading towards Bahrain, while the second was destroyed in the sky over Jordan. The RAF was also carrying out missions to protect the United Arab Emirates, the minister added.
The Iranian regime had “been a source of evil” and had supplied more than 60,000 drones used by Russia against Ukraine. Since the start of the war, Iran had fired “more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones” at Israel and other Middle Eastern countries in an attempt to retaliate against broader Western interests.
Ahead of Healey’s statement in the Commons, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she had made the Treasury’s strategic reserve available to fund the cost of military operations in the Middle East. There was no immediate budgetary reason for the time it took to deploy HMS Dragon, he added.
