LONDON/NICOSIA: Britain said its Akrotiri air base in Cyprus would not be involved in its defensive agreement with the United States to use UK bases, after a call on Saturday between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
The UK government gave authorization on Friday for the US to use RAF Fairford in England and Diego Garcia, a joint US-UK base in the Indian Ocean, to carry out defensive strikes on Iranian missile sites attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“RAF Akrotiri would not be involved in the UK’s continuation of its agreement with the US to use UK bases in collective self defense of the region,” a spokesperson for Starmer’s office said in a British readout of the call with Christodoulides.
An Iranian-type Shahed drone caused slight damage on March 2 when it hit facilities at the Akrotiri air base in southern Cyprus, with two others later intercepted.
There have been no further known security incidents on the island, where Britain retained sovereignty over two bases when it granted its former colony independence in 1960.
