Missiles have been fired at Cyprus and British troops saw a near miss in Bahrain as Iran ‘lashes out’ in the wake of Donald Trump‘s strikes, John Healey revealed today.
The Defence Secretary warned Iranian missile commanders are ‘increasingly allowed to choose their own targets’ as Tehran loses its ‘command and control’.
He also said UK officials are reviewing the terror threat level amid fears Iran could stage an attack on British soil as part of the blowback.
Iran has launched retaliatory action across the Middle East in the wake of the US and Israeli attacks, which have killed its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It has fired missiles at Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, all of which have a US military presence, with civilian airports and hotels being hit.
Mr Healey said RAF jets flying from bases in Cyrus and Qatar were protecting UK allies in the region and would ‘take down’ missiles or drones.
He confirmed that a UK counter-drone team in northern Iraq had shot down Iranian drones in the last 24 hours.
The Defence Secretary revealed that two missiles were fired in the direction of Cyprus, while Iranian strikes landed within ‘a few hundred yards’ of British troops in Bahrain.
He also said UK officials are on alert for new terror plots on British soil, while Chancellor Rachel Reeves is watching oil prices ‘very closely’ amid the regional chaos.
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Asked if the terror threat level was being reviewed as Iran retaliates to the US and Israeli strikes, the Defence Secretary said: ‘Absolutely.
‘When you get a regime like this lashing out in the Middle East indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilians and military targets.
‘When you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf then of course our force protection in the region is at its highest.
‘Our alert and vigilance in the UK is also high.’
He added: ‘This is a really serious and deteriorating situation, (with) rising risks of increasing Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks.
‘Yesterday, we had 300 personnel on that Bahrain base that was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones, some of them within a few hundred yards of where they landed.
‘We had two missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus.
‘We don’t believe they were targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless, it’s an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act.’
Konstantinos Letymbiotis, the Cyprus government spokesperson, said there was ‘no indication’ of a threat to the country.
He posted on X: ‘In relation to statements and media reports referring to the launch of missiles towards the direction of Cyprus, it is clarified that this is not the case and there is no indication whatsoever that any threat to the country has occurred.
‘The competent authorities are closely monitoring the situation on a continuous basis.’
British nationals in Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar and the UAE are being urged to register their presence with the Foreign Office in order to receive direct updates on the situation in the Middle East.
The Foreign Office is now also advising against all but essential travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
Sir Keir Starmer spoke with the King of Bahrain, Crown Prince of Kuwait and King of Jordan on Sunday morning.
A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister ‘expressed the UK’s solidarity in the face of dangerous Iranian escalation, which has seen indiscriminate missile and drone attacks launched at their countries in the last 24 hours’.
‘They discussed the safety of civilians in the region, including British nationals and armed forces personnel, and expressed deep concern that strikes have hit civilian and commercial infrastructure – harming innocent people,’ No10 added.
The PM also ‘reiterated that the UK has had planes in the sky since yesterday as part of the coordinated defensive response to protect our partners in the region, and would continue to offer our support’.
In the first Government response to the Khamenei’s death, which was confirmed by Iranian state TV early on Sunday, Mr Healey said: ‘I think few people will mourn the Ayatollah’s death.
‘Not least the family and friends of those thousands of young protesters murdered on the streets of Iranian cities.
‘Iran and the regime he’s led for so long, it’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain.
‘The concern now, of course, is this regime is lashing out.
‘It’s lashing out in an increasingly indiscriminate and widespread way, and people will be really concerned that it’s not just military targets.
‘But civilian airports like Kuwait, hotels in Dubai and Bahrain are being hit, and so that’s why we’ve strengthened the UK defences in the region.’
The Defence Secretary refused to say whether the UK had refused the US permission to use British bases such as Diego Garcia to strike Iran.
He also declined to comment on the legality of America and Israel’s actions, saying: ‘That is for the US to set out and explain.
‘It’s not for me, as Defence Secretary of the UK, I’m here to speak for the UK.
‘I can speak for the very active participation that we have in coordinated defence across the region.’
In a later interview with the BBC, Mr Healey said the UK shared the ‘primary aim of all allies in the region and the US that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon’.
Senior Tory MP Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, questioned why the Prime Minister was not more ‘proactive’ in the run-up to the US and Israeli strikes.
‘A lot of this has been about why has Keir Starmer not actually worked with our American allies to be much more proactive?,’ she said.
‘On the basis that a lot of intelligence is shared between our two countries, the Americans would easily have shared – and rightly so – details of their plans.
‘Why were some of our bases not used? And was the British Government asked about use of our military bases in the defensive strikes that took place?’
Dame Priti added the killing of Khamenei should not be mourned ‘one bit at all’.
She said the US and Israel were ‘absolutely’ right to strike Iran, adding it is a position the Conservatives support.
‘We have to remember that the Iranian regime has been a murderous, barbaric regime sponsoring terror around the world and also threatening our own country,’ she told Sky News.
‘That’s been long-established in terms of threats to the UK. With many of their proxies, they’ve also been funding and fuelling many of the hate marches that we’ve seen across our own country.
‘We should not mourn the loss of the Ayatollah one bit at all, he has been heading up and leading a murderous regime that has murdered tens of thousands of their own civilians and citizens, just for speaking up for their freedom.’