Sir Keir Starmer is considering sending the warship HMS Duncan to the Middle East, after one of the UK’s bases in Cyprus was attacked by an Iranian drone.
It is understood Britain is looking at whether to send the Type 45 air defence destroyer to the region after it recently completed a training exercise on taking down drones.
It comes after accusations of a lack of air defence in the region as the Iranian regime has threatened to unleash the “gates of hell” on the US and Israel, following attacks first launched on Tehran on Saturday.
The US has also indicated that it plans to escalate the fighting further threatening another wave of airstrikes on Iran, warning the “hardest hits” are yet to come.
Based at Portsmouth Naval Base, HMS Duncan is one of the most advanced warships in the world and was recently engaged in a drone training exercise. It was sent to the Middle East in 2019, amid heightened tensions with Iran at that stage. It also hit the headlines last year when it tracked the Russian navy vessel Vice-Admiral Kulakov through the English Channel.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said HMS Duncan should "go now" because "we need the highly capable air defence it provides to protect RAF Akrotiri". He added: "It begs the question: why wasn't she already there?"
The foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said the government had already added to the air defences in Cyprus.
"We have already increased the deployment, with additional defensive capabilities, including radar, F-35 jets, air defence, and counter-drone systems," she said.
It comes after a drone struck RAF Akrotiri shortly after midnight on Monday, causing minor material damage to an aircraft hangar. Another two drones were intercepted by British warplanes around midday on Monday after they were scrambled from the air base.
Senior Cypriot officials say the attack was carried out by an Iranian Shahed drone, most likely fired by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah from Lebanon.
UK defence secretary John Healey has described the drone as an example of the “dangerous and indiscriminate attacks” by Iran and its proxies.
Sir Keir said on Sunday that he had accepted a US request to use UK military bases for “defensive” strikes against Iran, a day after the launch of a US and Israeli military campaign against the country, which triggered Iranian retaliation. Sir Keir later said the UK’s bases in Cyprus were not being used by US bombers after refusing the US permission to use UK bases to launch strikes over concerns about their legality.
France plans to send air defence systems to Cyprus and could dispatch a frigate, as well as anti-missile and anti-drone systems to the country, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency has reported.
On Monday, Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister, urged the prime minister to deploy HMS Duncan to the conflict.
He said: “In the last few hours, we know of over 500 rockets that have struck the United Arab Emirates, and no doubt many have struck bases around the area. Will he be deploying HMS Dauntless and HMS Duncan out to the Gulf right now? They’re both at a state of readiness, and I’m sure the defence secretary could give that order this afternoon?”
Sir Keir Starmer replied that he could not go into “operational matters” in public.
In response to reports that HMS Duncan could be deployed, a former defence secretary accused the government of “poor planning”.
Conservative MP Gavin Williamson posted on X: “Why wasn’t this done in January? It was obvious that it would be required when this all started to escalate. This is very, very poor planning.”
Cypriot government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis spoke about the possibility of French support on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides had a phone call "in the context of strengthening the precautionary measures being taken", he said.
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