The UK is sending additional troops and air defence systems to the Middle East as Iranian attacks escalate, lifting the number of British personnel involved in defending the Gulf and Cyprus to around 1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defence Secretary John Healey, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, confirmed new deployments to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, along with an extended use of UK Typhoon jets in Qatar. \u201cBritain\u2019s best will help you defend your skies,\u201d he told Gulf partners, who he said view UK forces as \u201ca cornerstone\u201d of regional defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Healey warned that Iran had been \u201cexpanding\u201d its attacks and that the conflict is likely to continue \u201cfor some weeks\u201d. His comments followed an attack that damaged a Kuwaiti power and desalination plant, prompting Qatar to warn that strikes on civilian infrastructure threaten the entire region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK\u2019s Sky Sabre missile system will be deployed to Saudi Arabia this week, while Bahrain has already received the Lightweight Multirole Missile launcher and UK specialists to integrate it into local defences. Kuwait has received the Rapid Sentry ground-based system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reiterated that the UK will not send troops into Iran. \u201cThis is not our war and we\u2019re not going to get drawn into it,\u201d he said, while stressing the UK would continue to defend its interests and allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK has allowed the US to use British bases for \u201cdefensive\u201d strikes on Iranian missile sites, though Starmer previously refused permission for UK bases to be used in the initial US\u2011Israeli strikes in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US President Donald Trump has criticised the UK and other NATO allies for not joining those early strikes. On Tuesday he said countries that stayed out should \u201cget your own oil\u201d from the Strait of Hormuz, urging them to \u201clearn how to fight for yourself\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Healey dismissed the irritation, saying the UK and US remain closely aligned militarily and in intelligence sharing. He confirmed British naval assets and planners are working with the US on options to keep the Strait open, including the potential use of autonomous drones to clear mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At home, the Conservatives accused Starmer of a \u201cconfused and chaotic\u201d approach, while the Liberal Democrats called for the government to publish legal advice justifying the expanded deployment. The Green Party urged the UK to stop allowing US bombers to use British airspace for strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UK is sending additional troops and air defence systems to the Middle East as Iranian attacks escalate, lifting the number of British personnel involved in defending the Gulf and Cyprus to around 1,000. Defence Secretary John Healey, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, confirmed new deployments to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, along with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[178,967,297,643],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-11711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-2","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-john-healey","10":"tag-middle-east","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11712,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711\/revisions\/11712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11711"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}