British defence minister and war veteran Al Carns warns of ‘very dangerous times’ as UK faces threats from Russian submarine and warship activity and also the growing Iran crisis
Russian leader Vladimir Putin (Image: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA/Shutterstock)
British Defence Minister Al Carns has warned “we live in very dangerous times” with soaring threats from Russia and the Middle East stretching from the “high north” to Iran. The alarm follows more than two weeks of the US-Israeli war on Iran, during which British troops have fought off drone and missile threats from Iran and its proxies.
Senior western officials have confirmed European militaries are increasingly concerned about the Strait and demands by America for countries such as the UK to become involved. A UK refusal to send ships to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz has caused huge tension from US President Donald Trump towards UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
War veteran and Defence Minister Al Carns(Image: PA)
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And it comes as Iranian missile threats have blocked the key Gulf choke point, massively reducing oil and gas flow and boosting energy prices globally. But our armed forces personnel are also monitoring Russian movements across the European Arctic region, from Greenland in the West to the Norwegian/Russian border in the East.
Mr Carns told reporters how Russia has massively boosted its submarine and warship operations in the high north and that our world has become “exceptionally fractious.” Russian naval activity in the arctic has increased by 30% recently, possibly because NATO’s attention has pivoted back to the Middle East and away from Ukraine.
Tense times – President Donald Trump(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Mr Carns, a former British commando and war veteran of many conflicts, said: “What I would say is we live in very dangerous times. Whether it be in the high north, with a 30% increase in subsurface and surface capability coming out of the high north, from Russia all the way down to the developing crisis in the Middle East.
“It’s exceptionally fractious and more fractious than I’ve seen it probably during 24 years in my military experience. We continue to engage with allies and partners in a multinational approach to find solutions to some of these problems. They will not only be military solutions as we move forward and then at the tactical level, I’d just like to say planners and active service personnel, whether in the Air Force, the Navy, the army or the Marines are doing an amazing job from the very high north all the way down into the Middle East.
“They are mapping, tracking and neutralising targets that pose a direct threat both to our service personnel, British citizens and indeed British interests, be it partners and allies.” He reported that UK navy and RAF warplanes have flown more than 650 hours on operations to monitor and ward off the drone and missile threat from Iran and its proxies.
And he confirmed more than 40 drones have been “neutralised,” adding that British troops – most of them serving with the RAF Regiment – can be credited with “… a huge amount of lives saved at the behest of British forces.” Other western officials, who cannot be named, confirmed that there is increasing unease over the prospect of any navy in Europe or elsewhere trying to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
Building collapses in Beirut after Israeli strikes(Image: Getty Images)
One said Britain has “..already had discussions with his European partners and a multitude of different allies outside of that.” The source said of the Strait of Hormuz crisis: “We’re at the very early stages and actually just trying to conceptualise the totality of the problem and make sure that we’ve got a clear path towards the next stage, but we are in potentially the earliest stage of this.”
And referring to the last “tanker war” of 1987 when the US intervened to protect tankers from Iranian attacks the source added: “To give you an example, in 1987 when this last happened, it took 30 warships to do escort them in the Straits of Hormuz. That gives you just an example of the resources required. So it’s a major undertaking, depending whether it’s in a conflict scenario or indeed during peace time. . .”
US B-1 Bomber loading up at RAF Fairford, UK(Image: PA)
Currently the British military is preparing and planning for future operations to police or help secure the region against a threat from Iranian missiles and drones. But that, they confirmed, would depend on the situation becoming less of a high-threat environment or with a reduced chance of Britain becoming sucked into a new war.
One official added: “It’s an incredibly fluid situation at the moment, the level of threat is such that I don’t see many nations been willing to put warships into the middle of that threat right now. So we’re working closely with allies and partners in terms of what we might be able to do and what we can offer as and when the situation allows.”