UK’s Starmer announces deployment of HMS Dragon warship to Cyprus

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday evening announced that he will deploy HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer warship, to Cyprus, after a British base on the island had been hit by an Iranian-made drone on Monday.

“The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there,” he began.

He added that the British government is “continuing our defensive operations”, and that to this end, he had informed Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides that the United Kingdom intends to deploy HMS Dragon and “helicopters with counter-drone capabilities” to Cyprus and its vicinity.

Those helicopters were later confirmed by the British defence ministry to be two AW159 Wildcat helicopters.

Starmer said that the British government “will always act in the interest of the UK and our allies”.

His announcement comes after his Armed Forces Minister Alistair Cairns had earlier a press conference that “any threat that emanates from Iran, that threatens our British interests, or, more importantly, the hundreds of thousands of [British] citizens in the Middle East, we will neutralise that threat, and we won’t make any apologies for it”.

He later wrote in a post on social media that “we will take whatever steps are necessary to safeguard our people and defend our national interests”.

“We stand with our allies in their lawful right to self-defence. Our focus is clear: protect life, reduce tensions, and maintain regional stability,” he wrote.

The HMS Dragon has been in service since 2012, and is armed with anti-air missiles and anti-ship missiles.

In sending a vessel towards Cyprus, the UK joins both Greece and France, with the Greek navy having on Monday night deployed two frigates, including one armed with the Centauros anti-drone system, to Cypriot waters.

Those two frigates were joined by four Greek F-16 fighter jets, which are now stationed in Paphos.

The French frigate will, according to Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis, be armed with anti-missile and anti-drone systems.

Starmer had on Monday night sought to clarify that British bases in Cyprus are “not being used by US bombers” after the drone strike, though he did stress that the drone had not been fired “in response to any decision that we have taken”.

Instead, he said, it is believed that the drone was fired before he had made his statements on Sunday, before landing after his statements concluded.

Later, when asked why the bases in Cyprus are not being used by US forces, he said they “are not suitable”.

“It is very important that this is made clear, because [Christodoulides] and I have been discussing that,” he said.

He later fielded a question in his country’s parliament from opposition party Liberal Democrat MP Al Pinkerton regarding Iranian revolutionary guard corps general Sardar Jabbari’s threats to fire missiles at Cyprus, and stressed again that “the US is not using Cyprus”.

“It is our base. I will not go into operational details, but as [Pinkerton] would expect, we are taking all necessary measures to ensure that Cyprus and the base are safe,” he said.

His comments were echoed by Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis on Tuesday, who said that British government officials, both publicly and in direct conversations with their Cypriot counterparts, have ruled out American use of the British bases in Cyprus.

Those officials, he said, “have made it clear that in any discussions which are taking place, in any planning which is being done in relation to the United States, the bases located in … Cyprus are not included”.

“This is something which we had said from the very beginning, which we considered would be useful, beneficial and necessary to include with the same clarity in the initial … statements made by [Starmer],” he said, in reference to Starmer’s announcement on Sunday that other UK bases would be used by US forces in the conflict.