Akrotiri, Cyprus. The United Kingdom has deployed six more fighter jets to its air force base in Akrotiri, reports said on Saturday, amid growing fears the United States may launch a fresh round of strikes on Iran.
Additional UK aircraft sent to Cyprus
British newspaper The Times reported that six F-35B fighter jets left the Royal Air Force base in Marham, Norfolk, for Cyprus on Friday “to defend the base and sovereign base territories should the situation in the region become ‘hot’”. The report said the jets will join Typhoon aircraft already stationed in Cyprus and carrying out missions over Iraq and Syria.
Previous Typhoon redeployment to Qatar
The Times said four Typhoons based at Akrotiri were deployed to Qatar last month following a request by the Qatari government, which cited “rising regional tensions”.
US-Iran talks and Trump comments
The reinforcement comes after delegations from the United States and Iran held talks in Oman on Friday regarding Iran’s nuclear programme. US President Donald Trump described the talks as “very good” and said, “We’re going to meet again early next week, and they want to make a deal, Iran, as they should want to make a deal,” while warning of “steep consequences” if a deal is not reached.
Trump later announced a 25 per cent tariff on imports from any country which “directly or indirectly” buys goods from Iran.
Iran’s red lines on missiles
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Iran’s missile programme was “never negotiable”, later saying, “missiles are never negotiable because they are a defence issue”.
Israeli report on planning for possible action
Israeli news website Ynet reported that the country’s air force commander Tomer Bar and military intelligence chief Shlomi Binder held a “lengthy and central discussion” on Friday, “approving and finalising operational plans for possible action against Iran”. The website said that were the United States to attack Iran, “Israel could take part in such a scenario”.
How do you think the additional UK deployments to Akrotiri could affect regional security?