A Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, came under attack Monday morning, marking a significant escalation in the Iran war.
An Iranian-made drone struck in the early hours, hitting the runway. Hours later, two unmanned drones were heading toward the same base.
“Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson told TIME.
No casualties were reported, but U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the first strike targeted the runway and that “precautionary measures” are now being taken around the base.
The attacks on Akrotiri, a , come after the RAF recently moved additional defensive capabilities to the location—including radar systems, anti-drone defenses, and F-35 jets—as part of ongoing efforts to support stability in the Middle East.
Highlighting the widening impact of the Iran conflict, an airport in Paphos, Cyprus, was later after a suspect object was detected on radars.
Cooper spoke of the “international” threat Monday morning and emphasized the importance of recognizing “the responsibilities we have around defensive support for areas where British citizens are present.”
In an interview with Sky News, Cooper said she had spoken with Gulf foreign ministers “who were frankly shocked and horrified by how their countries have been targeted by Iran over the weekend.”
In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran early Saturday over concerns about the country’s nuclear capabilities—strikes that —British Prime Minister Keir Starmer clarified the U.K. had no role in the military action.
Despite not being involved, he reiterated his stance that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. He noted that over the last year alone, the Iranian regime has “backed more than 20 potentially lethal attacks on U.K. soil.”
Starmer had previously refused to let the U.S. use British bases to bomb Iran, but he notably changed course on Sunday night.
“Over the last two days Iran has launched sustained attacks across the region at countries who did not attack them. They’ve hit airports and hotels where British citizens are staying. This is clearly a dangerous situation,” Starmer, highlighting how Iran hit a military base in Bahrain that narrowly missed British personnel.
“The United States has requested permission to use British bases… We have taken the decision to accept this request—to prevent Iran from firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved,” he added.
Trump said he is “very disappointed” with Starmer for initially blocking him from using Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands to carry out strikes on Iran, arguing it took “far too long” for the U.K. leader to change his mind.
He told the that a situation like this had “probably never happened between our countries before” and surmised that Starmer was likely “worried about the legality.”
Prior to the Iran strikes, Trump and Starmer recently clashed over the joint U.K.-U.S. military base.
Amid heightened concerns for British citizens and personnel, Defence Minister John Healey confirmed over the weekend that the U.K. terror threat level is currently under review.
“When you get a regime like this lashing out in the Middle East indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilian as well as military targets, when you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf, then of course, our force protection in the region is at its highest,” Healey. “Our alert and our vigilance in the U.K. is also high.”
The level for the U.K. is “substantial,” meaning that an attack is “likely.”
Understanding the U.K. involvement in the war
Following U.S.-Israeli strikes against multiple Iranian targets on Saturday, the British position on its involvement shifted amid Iran’s retaliatory hits across the Gulf, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Starmer said Sunday that the U.K. remains uninvolved in direct strikes against Iran but is now allowing the U.S. to use its airbases.
Alongside Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands, it’s thought the other base in question is the RAF station in Fairford, Gloucestershire, England.
“The basis of our decision is the collective self-defense of longstanding friends and allies, and protecting British lives. That is in accordance with international law,” said Starmer.
The government has military assets flying in the region to intercept drone attacks on countries “not previously involved in the conflict.”
The British Ministry of Defence also a joint operation with Qatar, which successfully took out an Iranian drone heading toward Qatari territory, “ensuring the security of Qatar’s airspace and British interests in the region.”
Healey described the situation as “serious and deteriorating” on Sunday, echoing Starmer’s concern that British personnel were present at an airbase in Bahrain which was targeted by Iran.
“There is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act defensively, but in a very coordinated way,” he said.
