UK ‘sends more fighter jets’ to Cyprus in case of US strikes on Iran

The United Kingdom has deployed six more fighter jets to its air force base in Akrotiri, according to reports on Saturday, with fears growing that the United States may launch a fresh round of strikes on Iran.

British newspaper The Times reported that a total of six F-35B fighter jets departed from the Royal Air Force’s base in Marham, Norfolk, for Cyprus on Friday, “to defend the base and sovereign base territories should the situation in the region become ‘hot’”.

It added that the British government has “concerns [that] the US could attack Iran and plunge the region into a wider conflict”, and that the F-35B fighter jets will now join Typhoon jets which are already stationed in Cyprus and “carrying out missions over Iraq and Syria”.

On this front, it said that a total of four Typhoons which were based at Akrotiri had been deployed to Qatar last month following a request by the Qatari government, which had cited “rising regional tensions”.

The bolstering of the UK’s forces in Cyprus comes after delegations from the US and Iran held talks in Oman regarding the latter’s nuclear programme on Friday, and while US President Donald Trump described those talks as “very good”, fears remain that should the talks end without a result, military escalation may yet be possible.

“We’re going to meet again early next week, and they want to make a deal, Iran, as they should want to make a deal,” he said, before warning of “steep consequences” if a deal is not reached.

He later announced a 25 per cent tariff on imports from any country which “directly or indirectly” buys goods from Iran, while Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi was also keen to set out his red lines.

Araghchi said Iran’s missile programme was “never negotiable” while speaking to television channel Al Jazeera on Saturday, before later saying, “missiles are never negotiable because they are a defence issue”.

Meanwhile, Israeli news website Ynet said that the country’s air force commander Tomer Bar and military intelligence chief Shlomi Binder held a “lengthy and central discussion” on Friday, “approving and finalising operational plans for possible action against Iran”.

The website reported that were the US to attack Iran, “Israel could take part in such a scenario”.

The salience of the UK’s bases in Cyprus has grown in recent years as tensions in the region have heightened, with the UK having previously bolstered its military presence on the island last summer in response to a back-and-forth of missiles fired by Iran and Israel at one another.

At the time, the country’s parliamentary under-secretary of state for the armed forces Luke Pollard said that there were “about 14” British Typhoon fighter jets stationed at the RAF’s Akrotiri base.

However, he did stress that the UK was not involved in bombing raids carried out by the US on Iranian nuclear facilities at the time.

Earlier last year, it had been reported that the US may ask the UK for permission to station aircraft in Cyprus for future attacks on Iran, with those reports coming after Iran had warned the US, the UK, and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help to stop its missile strikes on Israel.

At the same time, the UK’s foreign secretary of the day David Lammy, who is now the country’s deputy prime minister, had said the country’s bases in Cyprus are “hugely important at this time”.

More recently, Cyprus was the likely launchpad for strikes conducted by the RAF against Islamic State targets in Syria last month, while former leader of the country’s Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn said on two occasions this week that the Akrotiri base is being used to deliver weaponry to Israel.