Now Spain sends ship to guard Cyprus as island blasts ‘weak’ Britain, Royal Navy languishes in port and Iran drones hit high secret RAF base

Spain is to join France, Italy and the Netherlands in sending its navy to protect Cyprus – including a British military base – in the latest humiliation for Sir Keir Starmer and the Royal Navy.

Madrid said the frigate Cristobal Colon would join a growing international armada in the Eastern Mediterranean ‘offer protection and aerial defence’ and ‘support any evacuation of civilians’ from the island.

It comes after RAF Akroitiri was hit by an Iranian drone fired from Lebanon last on Sunday, raising major concerns about the standard of local air defences.

Officials said the damage was minor, but last night it was revealed the drone hit a hangar used by the US for its U2 spy planes that fly high-level reconnaissance flights.

After France agreed to send frigates to protect the island Sir Keir on Tuesday ordered Type 45 air defence destroyer HMS Dragon to sail to the region.

But it will not be ready to set sail until next week, having been disarmed for planned maintenance, and could take a further week to get there.

After the Spanish announcement Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told the Rome parliament that Italy would send ‘naval assets’ to protect its fellow EU member in the coming days.

It will heap further criticism on Sir Keir over his response to the expanding military confrontation in the Middle East.

The civilian race to escape descended into farce today as British nationals were delayed from returning home when the UK’s first evacuation flight failed to take off from Oman.

Terrified passengers were said to be smashing on windows and having panic attacks as they sat helplessly on the plane on the tarmac in Muscat. One described the ordeal as a ‘total s***show’.

It had been scheduled to depart from the Omani capital at 11pm GST on Wednesday, but could not ‘due to the pilot’s hours clocking up’.

The Foreign Office this morning told the Daily Mail the flight failed to take off due to ‘technical issues’ but insisted it would take off later today.

European nations’ decision to supplement European forces around the island comes amid a warning that Britain has been diminished in the eyes of its allies through its unwillingness to join attacks on Iran or defend its own interests in the region.

General Sir Richard Barrons said that Britain’s relationship with the US would be strained because the UK had ‘not turned up when they asked in the way that they asked’.

And he said that Sir Keir’s slowness in responding to Iranian attacks on RAF Akrotiri and close to other assets in the Gulf States might leave them to ‘wonder if the UK actually has the muscle to apply in situations like this in the way that in former times we clearly did.’

He spoke to the BBC in the midst of furious political rows over Sir Keir’s reaction to Donald Trump‘s decision to start a war with Iran.

The UK has refused to join in the assault on Tehran, though Sir Keir has allowed the US to use its bases in Britain for defensive operations.

He is also under pressure over the snail-like pace at which a Royal navy warship will inch towards Cyprus. 

The slow pace led to Cyprus asking France and Germany for naval help, and its high commissioner to the UK, Dr Kyriacos Kouros, last night said: ‘Let’s say the people are disappointed, the people are scared, the people could expect more.’

This morning Defence Secretary John Healey arrived on the island, where he met his Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas.

General Barrons, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is a former commander of the joint forces command, led a strategic defence review for Labour last year.

Asked if the PM had been slow to react to the unfolding conflict, he told Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: ‘It has diminished the relationship between the US administration and the UK because we have not turned up when they asked in the way that they asked.

‘That was either worth doing, or we may find you could have taken a different decision in the interest of preserving that relationship with a key ally. It’s a fine judgement.

‘In the eyes of the region, however, the Gulf States, there is a sense that the UK has been slow to respond and also doesn’t have much to respond with.

‘And they will begin to wonder if the UK actually has the muscle to apply in situations like this in the way that in former times we clearly did.’

He added: ‘It is not a great look’.

Overnight on Monday, a hangar at Akrotiri was hit by an Iranian-made Shahed drone, which was launched from Beirut in Lebanon, according to Cypriot officials.

Two further drones detected on Monday were shot down by British warplanes which took off from Akrotiri.

As well as Dragon, Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities have also been dispatched to the island, and are expected to arrive there this week.

Yesterday Dr Kouros said the deployment of HMS Dragon was welcome but noted it would take ‘more than a week’ to arrive.

And he pointedly told BBC Newsnight that Cyrpus had ‘managed to bring from other countries their assets’ to help protect the country.

Asked for his message to the Prime Minister, he said: ‘I will thank him for paying attention to our voice, and that I would love to see more.’

Asked if he was reassured that the UK was building up defensive capability around Cyrus and the region he said: ‘We want to see the results. Let’s hope what we hear is true and that we are on the right track.’

Kemi Badenoch has said the UK should take offensive action against Iran after UK bases were attacked.

‘We need to do what we can to stop the ability for these attacks to take place,’ the Tory leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘I think that we should look at what our allies in the region are saying. Even if we’re not talking about Iran, Cyprus feels that we have not been helpful. It is extraordinary that Bahrain and Kuwait in the UAE are publicly criticising us…

‘They think that we’re abandoning them.’

She continued: ‘If your principle is, we will only wait until we are attacked rather than dealing with imminent threats properly, then we will be in a lot of trouble.’

Asked about concern over her enthusiasm for British involvement in the bombing of Iran, Mrs Badenoch said: ‘Being realistic is not gung ho. I don’t want a wider war.

‘But sometimes the best way to de-escalate a situation is to try and finish it quickly, rather than let it drag out because you don’t want to get involved.’