UK downs drone, places ship on alert; Trump slams Starmer on Iran

The UK downed a drone in Iraq and has a ship on heightened readiness. Donald Trump criticised PM Keir Starmer for a lack of support in US-Israeli strikes on Iran, as European nations increase their military presence in the Middle East.

UK downs drone, places ship on high alert

The UK Air Force on Tuesday announced that overnight, a ground-based British Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems unit took out a drone in Iraqi airspace, which was heading towards Coalition forces. The UK Ministry of Defence in a post on X said, "As a part of UK operations in the Middle East, the Ministry of Defence said that British pilots have now completed more than 230 flying hours on defensive operations protecting British people, bases and partners in the region. We have taken the decision to bring RFA Lyme Bay, a landing ship with humanitarian and medical capabilities, to heightened readiness as a precaution should she be needed to assist in maritime tasks in the Eastern Mediterranean." Update on UK operations in the Middle East, 10 March 2026. pic.twitter.com/kaYSN4SJ54 — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 10, 2026

Trump criticises UK PM Keir Starmer

This comes after United States President Donald Trump on Saturday (US local time) sharply criticised United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the lack of UK support for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, claiming that the European country is now mulling over sending aircraft carriers to West Asia. In a post on Truth Social, Trump asserted that the US don't need people to join wars after it has already won them. He said, "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 who join Wars after we've already won!"

European Nations Deploy Forces to Middle East

Meanwhile, even as they voice misgivings about the US-Israeli war on Iran, some European nations have begun deploying their armed forces to the Middle East to defend their citizens and interests, the New York Times reported. Britain and France, neither of which is part of the assault on Iran that began on Saturday, announced they would use their navies and air forces to help blunt Iran's retaliatory strikes. Greece also sent planes and warships to its neighbour, Cyprus.

Defence ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland joined a call about the conflict in Iran and the wider situation in the Middle East on Wednesday afternoon. In a statement, the British defence secretary, John Healey, said they discussed how the nations' armed forces would be protecting their citizens and "supporting our allies."

The Netherlands was weighing a request from President Emmanuel Macron of France to use its military to help secure international shipping routes, as per New York Times. Macron said on Tuesday that while France considered the offensive by the United States and Israel to be "outside the bounds of international law," he would send air defence assets and a warship to defend the island of Cyprus from the widening retaliatory strikes from Iran and its allies, NYT reported. (ANI)

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