The Cypriot anger expressed about the UK’s bases after Iran’s vengeful attacks is in many ways ephemeral, and, indeed, unreasonable – at the time of attack the UK was not involved in hostilities alongside the US or Israel. Therefore, more consideration must now be given to revisit the UK government’s own SDR from 2025, to prioritise the persistent presence which it articulated clearly as a defining feature of its Middle East policy. Bolstering this effort must be considered to reinforce the UK’s military presence at Gibraltar to include the ability to conduct short-term maintenance and refit work to vessels. This is something UK bases in particular lack. [xxvi] These are all further reasons why the UK must rebuild its fleet, and redeploy a meaningful presence once more to the Middle East.

Source: The Guardian April 02, 2026 14:27 UTC