US denies ‘abandoning’ staff after Iraq flight to Akrotiri

The United States’ state department on Sunday stressed that it did not “abandon” its people after it was confirmed that several of its officials left Iraq on a British military aircraft which landed at the British Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus.

“The characterisation of the United States abandoning its people is false. There is no higher priority than the safety of our people,” a state department spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail.

They added that the state department had initially “ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to threats from Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militias”, likely predicating their flight aboard the British military aircraft.

However, they also said that they “cannot comment on specific operational details”.

“As a general matter, the US mission in Iraq continues to implement all needed steps to ensure the safety of our diplomatic personnel and facilities,” they said.

They also said that the US government “strongly condemns Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias’ attacks on diplomatic, military and civilian infrastructure in Iraq”, and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani are “taking all possible measures to safeguard US diplomatic personnel and facilities”.

“There must be urgent action to dismantle Iran-aligned terrorist militias, halt their attacks, and ensure they cannot use Iraqi territory to threaten the United States and the region,” they said.

The spokesperson’s statements come after a spokesperson for the British defence ministry had earlier confirmed that US officials, some of whom were consular staff and others who were referred to as “contractors”, had flown from the Harir airbase to Akrotiri.

The aircraft had been scheduled to fly from Erbil to Akrotiri to transport equipment, but the US officials had requested to board the flight as there were “insufficient American air assets in the region” at the time.

While the British government could not initially confirm whether the US officials have since left Cyprus, other sources close to the matter have informed the Cyprus Mail that they have since been repatriated.

The British defence ministry spokesperson did confirm that the flight did not take place on Thursday night, when the base was attacked by drones and a number of US servicemen were injured and one French soldier was killed. 

Akrotiri itself had been hit by an Iranian-made drone shortly after midnight on March 2, and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had confirmed last week that it has since been used as the launchpad for operations in the region in which British aircraft engage and shoot down drones launched by Iran. 

That confirmation came after British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had announced that his government would allow the United States to use its military bases – commonly understood to mean the Diego Garcia airbase in the Indian Ocean and the Fairford airbase in Gloucestershire, on the UK mainland – in its operations against Iran. 

However, this decision was taken and announced too slowly for the liking of US President Donald Trump, who described the perceived delay as “shocking”. 

Of Starmer, he then said that “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”. 

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

In the aftermath of the drone strike on Akrotiri, the UK sought to bolster its defence of the base, deploying the HMS Dragon Type 45 destroyer warship, which set sail for the island on Tuesday, as well as three AW159 Wildcat helicopters and a Merlin Mk2 helicopter.