You’ve failed us on Iran, Middle East allies tell UK
Britain’s allies in the Gulf and Cyprus have accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to do enough to protect the region and UK citizens from Iranian missile strikes.
The Times has been told that Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have concerns about the UK’s response to the Middle East conflict.
At the same time Cyprus’s high commissioner to the UK said the “least” his country expected was for the government to provide a robust defence of the island that is home to two British bases.
Britain operates a naval support facility in Bahrain, with about 300 service personnel, which is next to the site of a successful Iranian missile strike on the US Fifth Fleet headquarters.
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John Healey, the defence secretary, said that the missile had landed less than 200 metres from UK forces.
Gulf nations including the United Arab Emirates were also angered by the delay in giving the US permission to use joint bases, including Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, to carry out “defence” airstrikes against Iranian missile sites. Starmer eventually gave America approval on Sunday evening.
The public criticisms reflect deep anger among Britain’s allies in the region over its slow response to the Iranian attacks.
On the fifth day of the war:
President Trump said Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon before the US and Israeli attack.
The US released video of the moment a torpedo sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing an estimated 87 people on board.
The White House said President Trump was “actively considering” a US role in Iran after military operations concluded and that ground troops were “on the table” as an option.
Al Carns, a defence minister, refused to rule out direct UK airstrikes against Iranian missile sites.
Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister, said he had summoned the Iranian ambassador in London to “condemn Iran’s role in attempting to draw the region into a wider conflict”.
While British F-35s and Typhoon aircraft based in Cyprus are flying defensive missions to take down Iranian missiles and drones, HMS Dragon, a UK destroyer, will not set sail for Cyprus until next week because it is being brought out of maintenance and fitted with the right weapons.
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One western official said that the proposal to send the ship did not cross the desk of the chief of defence staff until 9.30am on Tuesday — four days after the war started and nearly two days after RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone strike. He passed the proposal to ministers and a decision was made shortly after that.
Iran war live: follow the latest updates
Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters, armed with Martlet missiles capable of dealing with aerial threats, will arrive in Cyprus in the coming days. Kyriacos Kouros, Cyprus’s high commissioner to the UK, said that while the deployment of HMS Dragon was “welcome”, it would take more than a week to arrive.
He contrasted the slowness of the UK response with that of Greece and France, which had announced support for Cyprus earlier.
Kouros said: “The French are coming. The least we expect is the Britons to also be present since, as I said, we are not only defending Cypriots on the islands.”
The criticism came after it emerged that Starmer delayed giving his approval for America to use UK bases to attack Iran after a cabinet revolt. The delay from Starmer in approving the use of UK bases is said to have infuriated Gulf nations, particularly the United Arab Emirates, where most of the 300,000 Britons in the region are based.
“There was a feeling that the prime minister had to be dragged there,” a source familiar with the UAE’s concerns said. “It obviously reflects badly in the eyes of the Gulf Cooperation Council.”
The Spectator reported that at a meeting of the National Security Council on Friday cabinet ministers including Ed Miliband, Rachel Reeves and Shabana Mahmood had objected to allowing the US to use British bases to carry out attacks on Iran in the event of a conflict.
It was not until Sunday — after which the UK’s allies in the region had already been attacked — that the ban was lifted.
In the Commons Starmer defended his initial decision to block US aircraft from using British bases, saying there was no lawful basis or a “viable thought-through plan”.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “We never comment on the content of National Security Council meetings. The decision had the full support of the cabinet, including all the members of the National Security Council.”
A government spokesman said: “We have taken significant and concrete steps to bolster our defences in the region. Our jets — Typhoons and F-35s— have been flying regular defensive sorties from Cyprus and Qatar, successfully taking out multiple Iranian drones threatening the region.
“Since January, we significantly boosted our defences, deploying additional radar systems, air defence, and F-35 jets to our bases in Cyprus, and Typhoon jets to Qatar. We are now sending Wildcat helicopters armed with Martlet drone-busting missiles, due to arrive in Cyprus within days, and deploying HMS Dragon to the Eastern Mediterranean, one of the most advanced air defence warships in the world.
“The prime minister has also authorised the US to use British bases for defensive missions to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities. We stand ready to protect British interests and those of our allies.”