London, United Kingdom. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK government takes its relationship with Cyprus “immensely seriously” as she faced MPs’ questions about decisions related to UK bases on the island before and after an Iranian-made drone hit Cyprus earlier this month.
UK deployments and contacts with Cyprus
Cooper said the UK has been “pre-deploying additional jets to Cyprus, to the sovereign base” since January to provide “additional protection for Cyprus”, including “additional air defence and radar capabilities”.
She said she has spoken to Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos “on a series of occasions” and noted that Defence Secretary John Healey visited the island earlier this month, visited the sovereign base, and met the Cypriot government.
Cooper said the UK takes its partnership with the Cypriot government and “the defence of operations around Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean” “immensely seriously”.
Questions on Operation Olive Harvest and U-2 aircraft
During the debate, Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked whether “Operation Olive Harvest” is being “used by the US to fly reconnaissance over the Middle East in defensive support” of US operations in and around Iran.
Operation Olive Harvest refers to reconnaissance missions flown over the Middle East by American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft based out of the British Akrotiri air force base.
Obese-Jecty referred to the aircraft after reports that the drone which hit Cyprus had been aimed at a hangar housing U-2 aircraft.
Cooper on the strike and US basing support
Cooper said Obese-Jecty was “right about the strike around the hangar”, contradicting her earlier comments that the drone had only hit the base’s runway, while stressing that the US is not coordinating its own operations out of Akrotiri.
She said the US request for basing support for operations against ballistic missiles in Iran was for RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia, and that the agreement to provide basing support is confined to those two locations.
RAF Fairford is on the UK mainland and Diego Garcia is an island in the Indian Ocean.
What impact do you think these basing arrangements could have on security around Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean?