Al Carns, the Armed Forces minister, says surrendering sovereignty of RAF Akrotiri to Cyprus is ‘out of the question’ - Paul Grover for The Telegraph Al Carns, the Armed Forces minister, says surrendering sovereignty of RAF Akrotiri to Cyprus is ‘out of the question’ - Paul Grover for The Telegraph The status of Britain’s Cypriot military bases is not up for negotiation, the Armed Forces minister has told The Telegraph.

In an exclusive interview, Al Carns insisted that surrendering sovereignty over Akrotiri and Dhekelia would be out of the question during imminent showdown talks with the Cypriot government.

“We have to be really clear on this, the legal status of the sovereign base areas is rock solid,” said the former senior officer in the Royal Marines.

After war broke out in the Middle East, the Mediterranean island’s president announced plans to renegotiate the future of Britain’s “colonial” bases at the end of the hostilities.

Despite being some 200 miles away, Iran and its proxies launched dozens, if not hundreds, of ballistic missiles and drones towards Cyprus, which hosts both British and American forces, in retaliation for Donald Trump’s military campaign.

Al Cairns speaks to Air Commodore Martin Cunningham and Maj Gen Tom Bewick at Akrotiri - Paul Grover Al Cairns speaks to Air Commodore Martin Cunningham and Maj Gen Tom Bewick at Akrotiri - Paul Grover Security concerns were further heightened when a kamikaze one-way drone smashed into a hangar housing two American U2 spy planes on RAF Akrotiri.

This prompted allies of Nikos Christodoulides, the Cypriot president, to hatch plans, modelled on Britain’s controversial deal to relinquish the Chagos Islands, to reclaim sovereign control over the bases on the island.

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Speaking at a summit of EU leaders last month, Mr Christodoulides told reporters: “When this unfortunate situation in Cyprus is over, we need to have an open and frank discussion with the British government with regard to the status of the British bases... the status and the future of the British bases in Cyprus.”

Under the plan that Nicosia may be considering, the two military facilities would become Cypriot but then be leased back to Britain for continued use.

Akrotiri and Dhekelia were kept under British control in the handover deal when Britain relinquished Cyprus in 1960.

F-35B warplanes were scrambled from Akrotiri to intercept drones launched by Tehran - AS1 Joshua Whiting/MoD F-35B warplanes were scrambled from Akrotiri to intercept drones launched by Tehran - AS1 Joshua Whiting/MoD Speaking from the airfield at RAF Akrotiri, Mr Carns dismissed any notion that the Government could entertain talks to hand back control of the bases.

Rather than enter a debate about the bases and their surrounding territories, Mr Carns believes the best course of action is to work with Nicosia to ensure the island is well defended.

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“What we’re seeing because of the threat that has been posed, for the first time in a long time, is the Cypriots, the Brits and other allies coming together to work on an integrated plan to defend the capabilities here,” Mr Carns said.

“I think we’ll see a lot of positives. We can understand some of the frictions but the reality is the legal basis of these sovereign territories is non-negotiable.”

Instead, commanders have been bolstering the base’s defences to demonstrate Britain’s commitment to protecting not only the facilities but also the wider island of Cyprus.

Since the first drone strike in the early days of the war in Iran, the Army, the Royal Navy and the RAF have created an intricate spider’s web of air defences.

Radars and submarine-hunting helicopters are used to spot incoming drones and missiles. F-35 and Typhoon fighter jets are dispatched to intercept the projectiles, knocking them out if it is safe to do so.

If not, the fighters follow the targets towards the base, providing live information for waiting Wildcat helicopters or Stormer surface-to-air missile launchers, both equipped with lightweight multirole missiles, made in Belfast.

For incoming ballistic missiles, HMS Dragon, a Type-45 destroyer, was dispatched to the region to provide a defensive umbrella, but has since been taken into port in Crete for repairs. Britain also added 500 extra air defence personnel to manage the threat.

The plan has been developed in the last five weeks alongside the Cypriots, Americans and French in what has become known as the Cyprus Defence Co-ordination Centre.

“In a crisis people tend to come together,” Maj Gen Tom Bewick, commander of British Forces Cyprus, told The Telegraph.

He went on to describe the development as “not unthinkable, but an awfully long way away”.

While nobody wanted to see war in the Middle East, or the drone strike on Akrotiri, the feeling on the base is that the events have focused minds.

“Adversity creates opportunity and it’s been really encouraging the way people have seized on that,” according to Maj Gen Bewick.

RAF Akrotiri, which was targeted by Iranian drones RAF Akrotiri, which was targeted by Iranian drones But Britain’s involvement in the Middle East does not stop in Cyprus, with the Government co-ordinating some 40 efforts to develop a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite demands from Mr Trump for an immediate deployment, it is highly unlikely the Royal Navy will send ships and other assets to assist with the key shipping route until the two-week ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran is made more permanent.

“To clear or secure the Strait of Hormuz in the midst of a conflict is exceptionally difficult with a range of subsurface autonomous threats, naval mines… and would require a large military effort,” Mr Carns said.

Asked whether the two-week ceasefire was too short to organise such a mission, the Armed Forces minister replied: “This needs to go longer and we welcome it going longer.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Carns said that Britain needed to invest in more protections to guard itself against ballistic missile and drone attacks.

He commended the American operation to rescue two fighter jet pilots after their aircraft was downed over Iran.

Mr Carns claimed that Britain had similar rescue plans in place should it happen to an RAF aircraft in the future.

He said Russia had been helping to develop Iranian tactics for using electronic warfare, missiles and drones in tandem to make them more effective and dangerous.

British intelligence analysts had seen a “cross-pollination” of both secretive and open-source information to demonstrate that Vladimir Putin was assisting the Islamic Republic in targeting American forces and its allies across the Middle East, said Mr Carns.

Mr Carns insisted that Mr Trump was right to complain about European Nato allies’ spending on defence in recent decades.

The Armed Forces minister insisted that the US would remain a “strategic ally and will be for a long time to come”, despite the US president’s suggestions he could withdraw from the military alliance.

But he responded to Mr Trump’s claims that British aircraft carriers were “toys” by insisting: “Our aircraft carriers are some of the most capable in the world.”

Nicosia wants improved defence guarantees after drone attack

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ED - If Israel comes out best against Iran, their next target could be Turkey, in Israel's pursuit of regional dominance. Turkey would do well to seek cooperation with Iran as has Iraq, if Iran goes on to defeat the USA. Cyprus would then be vulnerable to Turkish expansion and not Israeli. Cypriots might be grateful for the British presence under both circumstances.