Iranian drone hits British airbase in Cyprus, damages runway

Britain’s Royal Air Force base Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone strike overnight, causing limited damage and no casualties, Cypriot authorities and the UK’s Ministry of Defense said early Monday.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said a Shahed drone, which is manufactured by Iran, caused minor material damage.

“I want to be clear: Our country does not participate in any way and does not intend to be part of any military operation,” Christodoulides said in a statement. He said he was in constant contact with European leaders and others over developments.

Sources earlier told Reuters that RAF Akrotiri had been targeted by two drones, one of which was intercepted. The UK said the strike on the base hit the “airport runway.”

A security alert put out to residents in the vicinity of Akrotiri by the British bases administration advised residents to shelter in place until further notice, “following a suspected drone impact,” said a Cyprus government spokesperson.

Greece, meanwhile, said it was sending two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus.

Greece will assist Cyprus in “countering threats and illegal actions on its territory,” its defense ministry said. Defense Minister Nikos Dendias also indicated he would travel to Cyprus on Tuesday

Responding to the incident, the UK Defense Ministry said its “force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday that he would let the US use British military bases to fire “defensive” strikes at Iranian missile systems, on the second day of the US-Israeli bombing campaign and Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, Gulf states, and US bases in the region.

The decision to agree to a US request for their use was made “to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region,” he said in a video message on X.

Starmer reiterated that Britain was not involved in the joint US-Israel airstrikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday, adding that Britain would not join further waves of strikes.

“But Iran is striking British interests nonetheless, and putting British people at huge risk,” he said, noting Iranian missiles had hit airports and hotels where British citizens were staying.

My update on the situation in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/DvsOVcTDMy

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) March 1, 2026

Britain’s partners in the Gulf had asked it to do more to defend them, he said, and it was his duty to protect British lives.

British fighter jets were already taking part in coordinated defensive operations and had intercepted Iranian strikes, he said, but the only way to stop the threat was to destroy the missiles at their source in storage depots or launchers.

Despite the strike on the British airbase, UK Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer insisted the nation was “not at war.”

“Let me be really clear: the UK took a deliberate decision not to be part of the first wave of strikes conducted by the United States and Israeli governments. But in the face of reckless attacks from Iran… we took the decision, as the Prime Minister announced last night, to support the US’s request to use our bases in order to conduct defensive actions,” he added.

On Sunday, UK Defense Secretary John Healey said in a Sky News interview that two Iranian missiles were fired toward Cyprus, but that “we don’t believe they were targeted at Cyprus.”

Following Healey’s comment, Starmer told Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides “clearly and unequivocally” that Cyprus was not the target of the Iranian missile attack, according to Cyprus’s readout.

The UK has two large sovereign base districts in Cyprus, which is a European Union member.

RAF Akrotiri covers a sprawling, square-shaped peninsula on the southern tip of the Mediterranean island. The last time the base was directly attacked was by Libyan militants in the mid-1980s.

The UK has is also reportedly drawing up plans to evacuate citizens from the Middle East if regional airspace remains closed.

At present, the UK government is advising citizens to stay in place, and the plans will be implemented only if it becomes clear that the airspace will stay closed for a long time, according to reports from multiple UK outlets.

British ministers are planning on evacuating people from Saudi Arabia, whose airspace is still open, reports said.

At least 200,000 UK citizens are in the region, including residents, tourists and people in transit, Starmer said in his video statement.

The UK government has urged British citizens in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and the Palestinian territories to register with the British Foreign Office in what reports described as a campaign of unprecedented scope.

The BBC reported that over 94,000 UK citizens have done so, most of them from the United Arab Emirates. Of those, most are tourists, it said.