RAF airbase in Cyprus hit as Cooper defends decision to allow US to use UK bases for Iran strikes – UK politics live
RAF airbase in Cyprus hit as Cooper defends decision to allow US to use UK bases for Iran strikes
Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage.
Just hours after Keir Starmer said that the UK has allowed the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites, the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus was hit by a suspected drone strike.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, who has been making the rounds on the morning shows, confirmed the strike on the Akrotiri base but did not provide any more details. Cypriot authorities and the Ministry of Defence have said that there were no casualties and limited damage.
On BBC Breakfast, Cooper defended the decision to allow the US to use UK military bases, saying that the decision was purely “about defensive action around the Gulf.”
“We made a deliberate decision to not provide support for the US strikes that have been taking place over the weekend. We have continued to take the view that we wanted to see diplomatic progress and negotiated agreement around this threat from Iranian nuclear weapons,” Cooper said.
“But we also now face the situation where there are 300,00 estimated British citizens in other Gulf countries that are being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones.
“That is why we are providing support for defensive action. It’s important to say that the UK is not going to be involved directly in those strikes, but are providing support. This is about ballistic missiles and launches that are pointed at the Gulf. It is only about defensive action around the Gulf. It is not about support for any political or economic or broader infrastructure targets. There’s a clear difference there.”
For the latest on the Middle East, please follow The Guardian’s live coverage here.
Cooper fielded a number of questions about possible evacuation plans for the Britons in Gulf countries that are being hit. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that they are working with the airlines, travel companies and local governments and are sending out rapid deployment teams to provide support for Britons in the region, some of whom are unable to return to the UK because of closed airspace and grounded flights. She said 102,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region.
“We’re saying to people, the most important thing at the moment is to follow the local advice, which in most places is around sheltering in place, and we are sending out rapid deployment teams to the region to work with the travel industry, to work with local governments as well, to make sure that citizens can get support,” Cooper said on Sky News.
“Of course, we want people to get safely home as swiftly as possible.”
Key events
Starmer faces greater quandary over ‘special relationship’ after Iran attack
Rowena Mason
It was perhaps naive of No 10 ever to position Keir Starmer as a “Donald Trump whisperer” capable of persuading the unpredictable US president to step back from reckless decisions.
The “special relationship” has been under severe strain in recent months over the UK’s decision to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands and the refusal of European countries to back Trump’s play for Greenland.
When it came to bombing Iran and assassinating its leader, Starmer appears to have had little influence on Trump, who went ahead regardless of the UK’s refusal to let the US use its military bases.
The prime minister now finds himself in the diplomatically precarious position of declining to endorse the strikes – which have won support from Canada and Australia – but also refusing to condemn them as many in his party would like to see him do.
‘The UK is not at war’: Middle East minister
Middle East minister Hamish Falconer made clear on BBC Scotland that while an “unmanned drone” had hit the runway at RAF Akrotiri, “the UK is not at war”, PA reports.
“Let me be really clear, the UK took a deliberate decision not to be part of the first wave of strikes conducted by the United States and Israeli governments,” Falconer said.
“But in the face of reckless attacks from Iran on a whole range of allies in the region – those are Gulf allies in which there are many, many UK nationals, probably 300,000 – … we took the decision, as the prime minister announced last night, to support the US’s request to use our bases in order to conduct defensive actions.
“There are ballistic missile launches in Iran, pointed at the Gulf and it is vital that those missile launches are taken out in the face of these completely reckless attacks.”
‘Simply not true’ that UK is being pulled into escalating Iran conflict, Cooper says
When asked on Sky News if the UK was being dragged into another Iraq-style conflict in the Middle East, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said: “That’s simply not true.”
“We took a very specific decision not to provide support for strikes that were taking place over this weekend. We have been clear that we believe there should be a diplomatic process, negotiations process,” Cooper said.
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RAF airbase in Cyprus hit as Cooper defends decision to allow US to use UK bases for Iran strikes
Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage.
Just hours after Keir Starmer said that the UK has allowed the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites, the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus was hit by a suspected drone strike.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, who has been making the rounds on the morning shows, confirmed the strike on the Akrotiri base but did not provide any more details. Cypriot authorities and the Ministry of Defence have said that there were no casualties and limited damage.
On BBC Breakfast, Cooper defended the decision to allow the US to use UK military bases, saying that the decision was purely “about defensive action around the Gulf.”
“We made a deliberate decision to not provide support for the US strikes that have been taking place over the weekend. We have continued to take the view that we wanted to see diplomatic progress and negotiated agreement around this threat from Iranian nuclear weapons,” Cooper said.
“But we also now face the situation where there are 300,00 estimated British citizens in other Gulf countries that are being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones.
“That is why we are providing support for defensive action. It’s important to say that the UK is not going to be involved directly in those strikes, but are providing support. This is about ballistic missiles and launches that are pointed at the Gulf. It is only about defensive action around the Gulf. It is not about support for any political or economic or broader infrastructure targets. There’s a clear difference there.”
For the latest on the Middle East, please follow The Guardian’s live coverage here.
Cooper fielded a number of questions about possible evacuation plans for the Britons in Gulf countries that are being hit. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that they are working with the airlines, travel companies and local governments and are sending out rapid deployment teams to provide support for Britons in the region, some of whom are unable to return to the UK because of closed airspace and grounded flights. She said 102,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region.
“We’re saying to people, the most important thing at the moment is to follow the local advice, which in most places is around sheltering in place, and we are sending out rapid deployment teams to the region to work with the travel industry, to work with local governments as well, to make sure that citizens can get support,” Cooper said on Sky News.
“Of course, we want people to get safely home as swiftly as possible.”