Politics latest: UK not at war with Iran, minister insists, despite drone attack on RAF base in Cyprus – UK Times

A Scottish teacher living in Dubai has told how she heard “loud bangs” from suspected missile explosions when Iran’s retaliatory strikes around the Middle East began.

Felicity Flanagan has been living in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates since August.

She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme: “My experience first started on Saturday, around about midday.

“My friends and I were having a really nice time down at the beach on the Palm when we heard two or three loud bangs.

“When that went off we had no idea what it was, so there was obviously uncertainty in the air and we didn’t know what to do.

“Moments later, we actually saw what we believed to be shrapnel from the missile then fall into the water in front of us.”

She said she had followed advice from the British embassy and stayed at home since.

Ms Flanagan said: “We got a text message from the (UAE) government with a loud siren through our phones, warning us to stay sheltered but also to stay away from windows.”

She said she then sheltered in the bathroom with her boyfriend and one of his work colleagues.

It was “not in the UK’s interests” to support the US attack on Iran over the weekend, the foreign secretary argued.

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer announced that, in a dramatic U-turn, he had granted permission for US forces to use UK bases for defensive strikes as the conflict continues to escalate following strikes carried out by America and Israel on Saturday.

Yvette Cooper told Times Radio: “I think our guiding issue has been about UK interests and about what we think is the right way forward.

“And our assessment was that it was not in the UK’s interests to provide support for the action that took place over the weekend.

“But it is in UK interests and it is the right thing to do – given how many British citizens that we have in the region – to support this defensive action now.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said no one would mourn the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but added the UK was not involved with what had happened.

Asked if the UK supports the way in which Iran’s de facto leader was killed, she told LBC: “No, that is not something that we were involved in.”

Asked if the Government supports the end result, Ms Copper said: “I don’t think anyone would mourn what has happened, because this is obviously part of a regime that has been not only brutally pursuing its own citizens, but also supporting terrorist activity across the region, destabilising activity through proxies across the region.

“But it is not something that we were involved in.”

Late on Sunday, the Prime Minister said he had agreed to a US request to use British bases to protect UK nationals and allies in the region, accusing Iran of pursuing a “scorched earth strategy”.

Sir Keir said British forces would not be directly involved in the strikes, and the bases would only be used for the “specific and limited defensive purpose” of targeting missile storage depots and launchers being used to attack Iran’s neighbours.

He said: “We have taken the decision to accept this request, to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved.”

It is not clear which bases will be involved, but Donald Trump has previously indicated Diego Garcia – one of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean – and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire could be used to attack Iran.

Sir Keir’s decision followed a day of conversations with regional leaders, during which it is understood they asked the UK to do more to protect them from Iranian missiles.

The Prime Minister insisted the decision was fully in line with international law, and the Government has published a summary of its legal position setting out that it is acting in “collective self-defence”.

The UK will also continue to carry out the defensive operations that have already seen British forces shoot down Iranian drones threatening northern Iraq and Qatar.

The UK is not at war with Iran, a Government minister has said, in the wake of an attack on an RAF base in Cyprus.

Middle East minister Hamish Falconer told BBC Radio Scotland an “unmanned drone” had hit the runway at RAF Akrotiri and inflicted “relatively limited damage”.

But asked if the UK was now at war, he said: “The UK is 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 on a whole range of allies in the region – those are Gulf allies in which there are many, many UK nationals, probably 300,000 – and in response to requests from those Gulf allies… 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.

“There are ballistic missile launches in Iran, pointed at the Gulf and it is vital that those missile launches are taken out in the face of these completely reckless attacks.”