JUST IN: Iran attacks a UK base in Cyprus, an EU country, after Starmer announces that it will give more aid to Washington | International
Sources confirm that the following story has emerged from the international scene.
A few hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced this Sunday his decision to authorize the United States to use UK bases to launch attacks against Iranian missile depots, a drone hit the RAF military installations in Akrotiri, on the island of Cyprus. The British Ministry of Defense confirmed at midnight (one in the morning on Monday, in Spanish peninsular time) the “attack by a suspicious drone” on the base, but assured that the damage had been minimal and had not caused casualties. Although Starmer himself tried to make it clear, in his appearance before the British Parliament, that his decision had not been a consequence of the drone attack – in fact, without categorically stating it, he suggested that he had taken it before -, the reading was evident. Everything indicates that Tehran wants to punish the United Kingdom for the increase in its aid to the attacks launched by the United States, but its apparent retaliation has extended the current Middle East conflict to EU territory. Greece has announced that it will send two frigates and two fighter planes to help with the protection of Cyprus. The Greek Defense Minister, Nikos Dendias, has said that his nation is ready to defend Cyprus “in any way possible”, according to the Reuters agency. The Cypriot Government reported this Monday that two more drones, directed towards Cyprus, had been successfully intercepted. “Both the base and the personnel continue to operate normally, to protect the security of the United Kingdom and our interests,” a spokesperson for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense specified. Even so, the British Government gave the order for “all non-essential personnel” to leave the facilities and disperse throughout the nearby town. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, this Monday. NEIL HALL (EFE) British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed the British by video late on Sunday to explain the decisions taken by his Government regarding the situation in the Middle East. Despite reiterating that the United Kingdom was not involved in the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel, Starmer noted that Iran “was hitting British interests and putting British citizens as well as our allies at risk.” [del Reino Unido] in the region.” In coordination with Germany and France, Starmer has decided to increase British military participation in the region. If this Saturday he warned that RAF fighter jets were flying over the skies of the Middle East on defensive missions, the prime minister announced hours later that his Government had agreed to allow the US army to use British bases in the region, with the specific and limited defensive objective of destroying Iranian missiles at their source, that is, in the same depots where the regime stores. “We have made the decision to accept this request, to prevent Iran from launching missiles throughout the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk and attacking countries that are not involved,” Starmer explained. “The basis of our decision is the collective defense of historic friends and allies, and the defense of British lives. We do so in accordance with international law,” said the Prime Minister, who along with the announcement of his decision has ordered the publication of the legal opinion that supports it. “The United Kingdom and its allies have permission, under international law, to use military force or provide it as support, in those circumstances in which it acts in self-defense, when it is the only viable way to respond to an armed attack in progress, if the use of force is necessary and proportionate,” says the text. Among the possible British military bases that the US army could use to launch its attacks is located on Diego García Island, in the Chagos Archipelago. London’s initial refusal to allow it to be a base of operations led Trump to once again harshly attack the agreement reached last year to return the archipelago to the island nation of Mauritius. In the last few hours, the American president had told the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that he was “very disappointed” with Starmer for his refusal, at first, for Washington to use its bases to attack Iran.
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Source: This article was originally published in another language by Internacional en EL PAÍS and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.