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Defence Secretary John Healey has declined to rule out UK aircraft participating in strikes on Iran.
During a trip to Cyprus, he was asked if he would preclude British aircraft from offensive military action against the nation.
In an interview with Sky News, he said: “As circumstances in any conflict change, you’ve got to be willing to adapt the action you take.
“I’m doing that by bringing in anti-drone helicopters in overnight. I’m doing that in the next couple of weeks to bring in the Type 45 air defence destroyer.
“I’m doing that by bringing in the top planners to help … co-ordinate the sort of contribution that other nations are now starting to make … the German frigate in the area, and Greek ships also now joining.”
Pressed again on whether he would rule out British aircraft taking part in offensive operations over Iran, he said: “Everything that we have done is defensive, is legal and is co-ordinated with other allies.
“That’s one of the great strengths that Britain, Nato allies and long-standing partners like Qatar, like Jordan, like Cyprus, have in working with the Brits.”
The Defence Secretary met his counterpart in Cyprus earlier on Thursday to ease tensions about Britain’s response to drone attacks on the island.
The government has faced criticism over its failure to have enough military assets in the Middle East and the pace of its response after an Iranian-made drone hit the British base RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
More than 400 extra air defence personnel have been sent to the UK’s bases in Cyprus.
Two Wildcat helicopters armed with drone-busting missiles will arrive in Cyprus on Friday.
HMS Dragon, a type 45 warship, is also being deployed as part of the build-up, but is unlikely to arrive in the Mediterranean until next week.
Cyprus’s high commissioner to the UK, Kyriacos Kouros, had said a British military presence to defend the island was “the least we expect” as he pointed to naval assets being sent earlier by other European nations.
Overnight on Monday, a hangar at RAF 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.
Mr Healey said he had been moving extra jets, air defence systems, radars and drone teams to Cyprus “weeks before” the conflict started on Saturday.
Put to him that the French had put a frigate to sea immediately while the UK’s HMS Dragon needed to be readied, he said bringing defence planners to Cyprus will help to coordinate the contributions from the UK and other nations.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer had earlier announced that four extra British Typhoon fighter jets are being deployed to Qatar.
The Prime Minister also defended the government against criticism from Donald Trump over the UK’s decision not to get involved in the initial strikes.
The US president said Sir Keir is no Winston Churchill, while the Prime Minister has also faced domestic criticism from his political opponents for failing to build a larger presence in the Middle East before the conflict began.
And in his latest salvo on Thursday, Mr Trump told the New York Post that the UK had been “very disappointing”and that Sir Keir should be supporting the US “without question or hesitation”.
Sir Keir insisted the special relationship between the US and the UK had not been fractured by the disagreement, telling reporters: “Look, the special relationship is in operation right now.”
He added: “We’re sharing intelligence on a 24/7 basis in the usual way. That is the special relationship.”
The Prime Minister would not be drawn into directly addressing a report by the Spectator magazine, which suggested Sir Keir had been open to allowing the US to use British military bases for the initial strikes on Iran.
The report claimed that Cabinet ministers – including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband – had urged him not to do so.
In response to a question from reporters, Sir Keir set out a timeline of discussions between the government and the US.
He said: “No request from the US came in the specific terms that we acceded until Saturday afternoon, therefore on Friday there was no concrete decision to be made.
“A decision had to be made when we had the request, that came in on Saturday during the course of the afternoon – we were already taking measures in relation to our own capability – that came in on Saturday afternoon, late in the afternoon.
“We then, as you would have expected, went through the details with the US over the next day, and ultimately reached a decision on Sunday, which I announced then on Sunday evening, about eight or nine o’clock.”
The Spectator story represents a potential leak of highly sensitive information from the government’s National Security Committee.
