Starmer says US strikes on Iran won’t be launched from Cyprus

 A British military base in Cyprus hit by an unmanned drone strike at the start of the Iran war will not be used by the US to target Tehran’s missile sites after an extraordinary international row.

Sir Keir Starmer told the Cypriot president that RAF Akrotiri would not be among the UK bases from which the US could launch strikes, hours after it emerged Iran had fired missiles at the joint US-UK Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

As part of the same phone call on Saturday, Nikos Christodoulides demanded that Sir Keir open discussions about the future of the British bases on the Mediterranean island.

While Cypriot politicians have demanded the return of the sovereign UK bases previously, this is believed to be the first time that a Cypriot president has formally requested talks since independence in 1960.

It comes just days after he described them as a “colonial consequence”, amid fears over the island’s security as the conflict in the Middle East escalates.

On Friday, the UK gave Donald Trump the green light to use British bases to strike Iranian missile sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz.

Downing Street said any such action would still amount to “collective self-defence”, insisting it would not mean the UK was drawn into the wider conflict.

But the base in Cyprus will not be included, the PM said.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the PM has spoken to Mr Christodoulides directly to convey the message.

He added that Sir Keir “reiterated that RAF Akrotiri would not be involved in the UK’s continuation of its agreement with the US to use UK bases in collective self-defence of the region, including for the degrading of Iranian missile capabilities”.

In a statement following the call, the office of President Christodoulides said on X, formerly Twitter: “During the discussion, with regard to the British bases in Cyprus, President Christodoulides referred both to challenges that have arisen and to lessons learned from the management of the crisis thus far. In this context, he presented a proposal for the initiation of relevant discussions.”

On Saturday, it emerged that Tehran had fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, but neither hit, the Wall Street Journal and the semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr reported. One of the missiles was shot down by a US warship, while the other failed in flight, according to the newspaper, which cited multiple officials.

The foreign secretary Yvette Cooper condemned what she said were “reckless” attacks by Iran that threaten British interests and allies.

The Ministry of Defence also said that RAF jets and other UK military assets were continuing to “defend our people and personnel in the region”.

Questions over the future of the Cypriot base would pile pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, who is already facing criticism over his decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The archipelago is home to the key UK-US Diego Garcia base, which will be leased back to the UK as part of the deal.

But The Cypriot president’s demands have sparked a row in the islands with the unrecognised breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) demanding it should be involved in the talks if they happen.

A spokesman for the Freedom and Fairness Campaign for the TRNC said: “This is not merely a bilateral matter between the United Kingdom and the Greek Cypriot administration. It carries broader implications for the political balance, legal foundations, and long-term stability of the island. Recent engagements by UK officials in Cyprus, including the current visit by Minister Doughty, underline the importance of ensuring that such interactions reflect the full reality of the island, including meaningful engagement with the Turkish Cypriots.

“Past experience is clear: one-sided international engagement on Cyprus does not resolve disputes – it entrenches them. Processes that exclude Turkish Cypriots deepen division, undermine trust, and risk further destabilising an already sensitive situation.”

The drone that attacked RAF Akrotiri was Iranian-made but launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Cyprus’s foreign minister Constantinos Kombos.

It caused minimal damage and did not result in any casualties. Further drones were intercepted and the Ministry of Defence has temporarily moved families from the base.

British bases in Cyprus were established as part of a negotiated independence deal in 1960 and are the UK military’s main jumping-off point for operations in the Middle East.