{"id":8693,"date":"2026-04-07T17:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/8693\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:34:08","slug":"uks-hms-dragon-forced-to-dock-in-the-mediterranean-after-being-sent-to-protect-britains-air-bases-in-cyprus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/8693\/","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s HMS Dragon forced to dock in the Mediterranean after being sent to protect Britain\u2019s air bases in Cyprus"},"content":{"rendered":"

HMS Dragon, which has been despatched to protect Britain\u2019s air bases in Cyprus<\/a> amid the Iran<\/a> war, has docked in the Mediterranean<\/a> after suffering technical issues.<\/p>\n

The Royal Navy<\/a> type-45 destroyer will still be able to sail at short notice \u201cif required\u201d, the Ministry of Defence<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHMS Dragon is undertaking a routine logistics stop and a short maintenance period in the eastern Mediterranean, allowing the ship<\/a> to take onboard provisions, optimise systems and conduct maintenance,\u201d an MoJ<\/a> spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHMS Dragon will remain at a very high level of readiness during this period, able to sail at short notice if required.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK continues to maintain a robust and layered defensive presence in the eastern Mediterranean, working in coordination with allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes Typhoon and F-35 jets<\/a>, Wildcat and Merlin helicopters, and advanced counter-drone and air defence systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the UK urged Donald Trump to step back from his threat to wipe out \u201ca whole civilisation\u201d as his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz drew closer.<\/p>\n

The US president has given Tehran until 1am on Wednesday UK time to end its blockade of the strait or face obliteration.<\/p>\n

Downing Street again said the UK\u2019s focus was on \u201cde-escalation\u201d and a \u201cnegotiated settlement\u201d for the region, but Mr Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric and the US-Israeli bombing campaign continued.<\/p>\n

Writing on his Truth Social platform he said: \u201cA whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want that to happen, but it probably will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran \u2018back to the Stone Ages\u2019 if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz (AP)<\/p>\n

But Mr Trump, who has previously extended his deadline for action, said the \u201ccomplete and total regime change\u201d in Iran had resulted in a situation where \u201cdifferent, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMaybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has said the US will destroy Iran\u2019s bridges and power stations, saying he was \u201cnot at all\u201d concerned that attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the UK believed such attacks would breach international law, the prime minister\u2019s official spokesperson said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on [giving] a running commentary on our allies\u2019 operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK has granted permission for the US to use British military bases to carry out limited defensive operations, only targeting Iran\u2019s missile sites and facilities being used to target shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas route.<\/p>\n

Asked whether RAF bases could be used by the US to target Iran\u2019s civilian infrastructure, the spokesman said: \u201cOur position has not changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said Sir Keir Starmer had been clear \u201cthis isn\u2019t our war\u201d and \u201cour position is very much focused on de-escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HMS Dragon, which has been despatched to protect Britain\u2019s air bases in Cyprus amid the Iran war, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,361,318,4385,24,4386,1481,1146],"class_list":{"0":"post-8693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-eastern-mediterranean","11":"tag-hms-dragon","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-maintenance-period","14":"tag-mr-trump","15":"tag-strait-of-hormuz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116364631403921584","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}