British PM says UK to send more fighter jets to Gulf, relationship with US 'still special'
At a news conference, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK is sending four Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar and that Britain's "special relationship" with the US is "in operation."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives an update on the situation in the Middle East at Downing Street Briefing Room, in London, Britain, Mar 5, 2026. (Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy)
The four Typhoon planes will join an existing UK squadron in the Gulf state "to strengthen our defensive operations in Qatar and across the region", Starmer told reporters.
The announcement came after UK Defence Secretary John Healey arrived in Cyprus following a drone strike on a UK air base on the Mediterranean island earlier this week.
An Iranian-made unmanned drone struck a hangar at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Akrotiri on Monday.
Two further drones detected that day were shot down by British warplanes.
Healey posted on X alongside a photograph of himself meeting Cypriot Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas.
The pair discussed how "the UK is further reinforcing our air defences to support our shared security," he added.
He had announced their deployment on Tuesday, adding that he was also dispatching "helicopters with counter drone capabilities" as part of Britain's "defensive operations" in the region.
Starmer has also deployed HMS Dragon, a Type 45 air defence destroyer able to launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously.
It is not due to set sail until next week however, according to officials.
"SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP IS IN OPERATION"
The "special relationship" between Britain and the United States remains intact and they continue to share intelligence, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also said at the news conference, after Donald Trump rebuked him for hesitating to support US strikes on Iran.
After initially refusing to allow the United States to use British bases for the US-Israeli campaign, Starmer has come under personal attack from the US president, who said the British leader was "not Winston Churchill".
Starmer defended his decisions both to withhold initial access to bases, and then to participate in "defensive" operations against Iran, once Tehran had responded by attacking its neighbours.
"The special relationship is in operation right now," Starmer said. "We are working together in the region, the US and the British working together to protect both the US and the British in joint bases, where we're jointly located and we're sharing intelligence on a 24/7 basis in the usual way."
As well as the tongue-lashing from Trump, Starmer has also faced criticism from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a right-wing Trump supporter, who has accused the prime minister of dithering.
"What Keir Starmer has done in alienating the American administration is not to just put that relationship personally at stake, but frankly to risk a relationship with a country without whom we are defenceless," he told Reuters on Thursday.
Britain, like other European countries, is searching for ways to repatriate citizens stranded in the Middle East by a conflict that has shut some of the world's busiest airports.
Starmer said more than 4,000 people had arrived back in the United Kingdom on commercial flights from the UAE, while 140,000 British nationals had registered their presence in the region.
