Prime Minister Keir Starmer has
faced fierce criticism for not acting fast enough to protect Cyprus from
enemy drones and missiles. RAF Akrotiri was hit by an Iranian drone
attack last Sunday. Pictured: Flashes in the sky over the base on
Monday, when further drones were intercepted
Trump revealed his thoughts on the UK's
role in the conflict so far during a post to his Truth Social account,
referring to the 'serious thought' Starmer is now giving to sending two
aircraft carriers to the region.
But the US President was quick to rebuff such help.
He wrote: 'The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
'That's
OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them any longer - But we will
remember. We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!'
Earlier
on Saturday, four American bombers landed in the UK and the US started
using British bases for 'specific defensive operations'.
The US president was referring to reports that the UK was preparing an aircraft carrier in response to the Middle East crisis.
The Ministry of Defence said it was increasing the preparedness of HMS Prince of Wales and reducing the time it would take to set sail, but that no decisions have been taken to deploy the warship.
Sir
Keir's decision not to grant permission for the first wave of military
action prompted a raft of criticism from Mr Trump in recent days,
including a personal attack on the Prime Minister as being 'not Winston
Churchill'.
He has also called
Britain's response 'very disappointing' and that it should be allowing
America to use its bases 'without question or hesitation'.
Sir Keir later granted permission for 'defensive' US action against Iranian missile sites from UK bases.
The Prime Minister has sought to play down the rift
and, after Mr Trump's latest rebuke, Downing Street pointed back to Sir
Keir's earlier comments that the special relationship is 'in operation
right now' as the two countries share intelligence and work together.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed the US
started using British bases for 'specific defensive operations to
prevent Iran firing missiles into the region' after American bombers
landed at a Gloucestershire base.
A
first 146ft B-1 Lancer arrived at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on
Friday evening and three more followed on Saturday morning.
A Merlin helicopter is also being sent to the region to help with surveillance from the air and RAF Typhoon and F-35 jets are continuing air operations over Jordan, Qatar and Cyprus.
Questions
linger over the UK's future role in the conflict, with Deputy Prime
Minister David Lammy suggesting RAF jets could legally strike Iranian
missile sites being used to attack British interests in the Middle East.
Chief
of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, has
signalled that the UK could join more proactive strikes in future,
saying 'campaigns and conflicts evolve over time'.
The Iranian ambassador to the UK told the BBC the UK should be 'very careful' about becoming further involved in the war.
Britain
has faced further criticism from allies over the defence of Cyprus,
where a UK base was struck by a drone earlier this week.
Air
defence destroyer HMS Dragon is not expected to sail to the eastern
Mediterranean until next week while France and Greece have already
deployed military assets to defend the island.
One
reason it is taking some time to prepare the Type 45 destroyer is
because it is being equipped to remain at sea for several months if
required, rather than rushed into the eastern Mediterranean for a short
period.
Tory leader Kemi
Badenoch meanwhile accused the Prime Minister of being 'too scared to
make foreign interventions' and said the UK is 'in this war whether Keir
Starmer likes it or not' in a speech on Saturday.
Sir
Keir has defended his decision not to permit the US to use British
bases in the opening assault against the Tehran regime, suggesting it
could have been unlawful and arguing the Government must keep a 'cool
head'.
The Prime Minister agreed on
Sunday to allow the US to strike Iran defensively from Fairford and
Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean.
Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Sir Keir said at moments like this the country needs 'seriousness, not political games'.
He
said: 'While opposition parties seek to undermine Britain on the world
stage, my Labour Government is focused on protecting British people at
home and abroad.'
Sir Keir was not backed however by his predecessor Tony Blair, who rebuked the Prime Minister for his lack of support for Donald Trump's war on Iran, telling him: 'We should have backed America from the very beginning'.
Amid mounting diplomatic tensions between London and Washington over the conflict, Sir Tony, who appeared at a private
event hosted by Jewish News, warned his successor: 'If they are your
ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security... you
had better show up'.
The Lib Dems
however urged Sir Keir to stand up to the US and accused Mrs Badenoch
and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of wanting Britain to 'blindly follow
Trump into his reckless war'.
'The
Prime Minister must stand firm against Trump's bullying and avoid
getting sucked further into this illegal and damaging war,' Sir Ed Davey
said.
Amid the political posturing over the situation, Saturday also saw the wider region feeling the impact of the conflict.
In Dubai, a luxury residential skyscraper was struck by debris from a suspected Iranian drone that was intercepted by the UAE.
Photographs
and footage showed smoke rising from the 23 Marina tower, which stands
88-storeys tall and comprises more than 280 units. There were no
reported casualties.
In a separate
incident, a man was killed on Saturday night in Dubai after debris from
an 'aerial interception' fell onto his car, officials said.
'Authorities
confirm that debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle in
the Al Barsha area, resulting in the death of an Asian driver,' authorities said without providing additional details.
It
is understood the debris came from a drone attack on the 19-storey
Azayez Tower in upmarket Al Barsha area, near the well-known Lulu's
Hypermarket.
The night assault was one of two on residential skyscrapers in Dubai, which were both seen in flames.
Initially
the UAE government claimed there were no injuries, but the dramatic
sight of the buildings with huge palls of smoke coming from threatened
to undermine the authorities' mantra that the Emirate was safe.
Earlier on Saturday, Dubai's airport was evacuated and completely closed following explosions and a fire close to the complex around 8am local time (4am GMT).
Dubai authorities were quick to claim that
there had been 'no incident' at the airport, but confirmed there had
been a successful interception of a drone, with no injuries reported.
Damage
likely from debris shot down in the drone attack was visible after the
small fire began on the side of the passenger walkway at the busy
Terminal 3, which handles Emirates flights.
The
drone strikes occurred as the Foreign Office confirmed that
a commercial flight from Dubai for Brits stranded in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) could depart early next week.
British
nationals, their spouse or partner and children under 18 are eligible
to register for the flight, which is available for a charge.
The flight will be in addition to commercial routes operating out of the UAE.
More than 140,000 British citizens have been left unable to return home since the outbreak of the conflict last Saturday.
The
latest strikes occurred just hours after Iranian President Masoud
Pezeshkian apologised for assaults on regional neighbours and pledged
to cease its retaliatory attacks.
Pezeshkian also described the American demand for an 'unconditional surrender' as a 'dream that they should take to their grave'.
Iranian aggression against Israel continued unabated however.
Sirens
were heard across the country on Saturday night, amid warnings of a
simultaneous Hezbollah rocket attack and ballistic missiles fired by
Iran.
Footage showed Israel's Iron Dome
system going into action for the 12th time in less than 24 hours as
scores of projectiles rained down on towns in northern Israel, including
Haifa and Kiryat Shmona.
Elsewhere, Trump said he had ruled out having Kurds join the Iran war.
Trump said Kurdish fighters in the region are willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government, but their involvement would make the conflict more complicated.
'The war is complicated enough without having - getting the Kurds involved,' Mr Trump told reporters on board Air Force One.
He
was speaking after joining grieving families at Dover Air Force Base
for the dignified transfer of the six US soldiers killed in the war in
the Middle East.
The dignified
transfer, a ritual that returns the remains of US service members killed
in action, is considered one of the most sombre duties of any commander
in chief.
'It's a very sad day,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Florida later Saturday afternoon, saying that he was 'glad we paid our respects'.
His
presence at the transfer came as he threatened that Iran would be 'hit
very hard' and more 'areas and groups of people' would become targets,
without elaborating.
Already, the
conflict has rattled global markets and left Iran's leadership weakened
by hundreds of Israeli and American air strikes.
Pezeshkian's
message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers
exercised by the theocracy's leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary
Guard, which controls the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting
Israel and other countries.
It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets.
Pezeshkian's statement said Iran's leadership council had been in touch with the armed forces over the attacks.
'From
now on, they should not attack neighbouring countries or fire missiles
at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should
solve this through diplomacy,' he said.
The US strikes have not been coming from the Gulf Arab governments under attack, but from US bases and vessels in the region.
But
hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member
of the three-man leadership council, suggested that war strategy will not change.
'The geography of some countries in the
region - both overtly and covertly - is in the hands of the enemy, and
those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense
attacks on these targets will continue,' he posted on X.
'As
long as the presence of US bases in the region continue, the countries
will not enjoy peace,' Iran's parliament speaker and a former
Revolutionary Guard general, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on X. He
called defence policies in line with the late supreme leader's guidance.
Iran's UN mission later suggested, without offering evidence, that strikes on non-military sites 'may have resulted from interception by US electronic defence systems'.
Earlier
on Saturday, Israel revealed it had struck a Tehran airport it said was
used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups.
The US and Israel have battered Iran, targeting its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear programme.
The
war's stated goals and timelines have repeatedly shifted as the US has
at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran's government or elevate new
leadership from within.
The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.
In
Lebanon, Israel carried out a commando raid to search for clues about a
navigator who went missing 40 years ago that left dozens of people dead
and dozens more wounded on Saturday.
Incoming
missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters again across
Israel. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Three
Iraqi security officials said a missile landed on the helicopter
landing pad in the US embassy complex in Baghdad. There were no reports
of casualties.
It was the first reported strike to land in Baghdad's heavily
fortified Green Zone since the Iran war began. Iran and allied Iraqi
militias have launched dozens of attacks on US military bases and other
facilities in Iraq since then.
Iraq's
caretaker prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, called the embassy
attack a 'terrorist act' carried out by 'rogue groups'.
Sirens also sounded early on Saturday in Bahrain as Iran targeted the island kingdom.
Saudi
Arabia said it destroyed 14 drones headed towards its vast Shaybah oil
field and shot down a ballistic missile launched towards Prince Sultan
Air Base, which hosts US forces.
Eight drones were intercepted in the country's airspace
and a further six were intercepted and destroyed 'east of Riyadh', the
ministry said in separate posts on its official X account.
Kuwait's
defence ministry meanwhile said on Sunday that fuel tanks at the Gulf
nation's international airport were targeted in a drone attack.
'The
fuel tanks of Kuwait International Airport were attacked by drones in a
direct targeting of vital infrastructure,' an official defence ministry
spokesman said, according to a post by the Kuwaiti military on X.
The spokesman added the country's forces were 'responding to a wave of hostile drones' that penetrated the country's airspace.
