UK’s Healey stresses ‘strong friendship’ with Cyprus after Palmas meeting

British Defence Minister John Healey on Thursday stressed that the “friendship” between the United Kingdom and Cyprus is “strong”, following a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas.

He said that he and Palmas had “discussed how the UK is further reinforcing our air defences to support our shared security”.

The meeting comes with relations between Cyprus and the UK seemingly having been frayed in recent days, following the firing of an Iranian-made drone which hit the runway at the British Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus on Monday.

Cypriot government officials had expressed dissatisfaction at a perceived lack of communication to them on the part of the British government in advance of the drone strike, with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer having announced on Sunday night that he would allow the United States to use British military bases to “destroy [Iranian] missiles at source”.

Following the strike, some had felt that Starmer’s lack of clarification that he was referring to bases in the Indian Ocean and on the UK mainland, rather than in Cyprus, had left Cyprus exposed.

Starmer had then on Monday night sought to clarify that British bases in Cyprus are “not being used by US bombers” after the drone strike, though he did stress that the drone had not been fired “in response to any decision that we have taken”.

Instead, he said, it is believed that the drone was fired before he had made his statements on Sunday, before landing after his statements concluded.

Later, when asked why the bases in Cyprus are not being used by US forces, he said they “are not suitable”.

In response, Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that “this is something … which we considered would be useful, beneficial and necessary to include with the same clarity in the initial … statements made by [Starmer]”.

Since then, Starmer has announced the deployment of Type 45 destroyer warship the HMS Dragon and two AW159 Wildcat helicopters to the island, saying that “the UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there”.

Meanwhile, Cyprus was the likely launchpad as British fighter jets engaged and shot down drones flying in Jordanian airspace on Tuesday night, with the British defence ministry at the time having announced that F-35 fighter jets “shot down uncrewed aerial systems in defence of Jordan”.

F-35 fighter jets have been stationed in Cyprus since last month, with six such aircraft having been deployed from the RAF’s base in Marham, in Norfolk, on the UK mainland.

The British government has since faced criticism for the slow nature of the deployment of the HMS Dragon, which is not expected to set sail from Portsmouth until next week, though a British defence ministry spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail on Wednesday that the British military is “working as fast as possible” to deploy the ship.