Iranian Drones Strike EU Country In War First

The Iran war has just for the first time, and rather quickly given it’s only the third day of the conflict, expanded to include an EU nation in the Mediterranean. Iranian drones have reached Cyprus and at least one has made ground impact.

The British Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Akrotiri, Cyprus came under attack Monday morning, with an Iranian drone striking the runway in the early hours, several reports say. This comes as Britain has mulled directly joining Trump’s Iran operation, but now appears to be pulling back from the prospect.

“Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people,” a British Ministry of Defence spokesperson has told international media.

Hours after the initial salvo, two more unmanned aerial vehicles were successfully intercepted while inbound over the same base. “Our armed forces are responding to a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at midnight local time,” the MoD statement continued. “Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people.”

The RAF is now taking emergency precaution measures is at least partially evacuating the base after a prior build-up:

The attacks on Akrotiri, a British sovereign base area, comes after the RAF recently moved additional defensive capabilities to the location—including radar systems, anti-drone defenses, and F-35 jets—as part of ongoing efforts to support stability in the Middle East.

Showcasing the widening impact of the Iran conflict, an airport in Paphos, Cyprus, was later evacuated after a suspect object was picked up on radars.

Cooper spoke of the “international” threat Monday morning and expressed the importance of recognizing “the responsibilities we have around defensive support for areas where there are British citizens.”

Cooper further said that in private conversations with officials throughout the Gulf region, the leaders expressed they were “frankly shocked and horrified at the way their countries have been targeted by Iran over the weekend.”

Family members of UK military members have been ordered to leave the base as it is now clearly being targeted:

Family members of British military personnel have been asked leave to leave the base for their own safety, and will be based elsewhere in Cyprus until the alert passes.

The drone struck hours after the UK agreed to let the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites, but officials indicate the possible flight times mean it was launched before the prime minister announced the new policy.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has stated that “All the competent services of the republic are on alert and in full operational readiness.” He also clarified his country has nothing to do with the war.

🇮🇷🚀🇬🇧🇨🇾 BREAKING: Cypriot media has confirmed that an Iranian drone has damaged one of the runways at the UK Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus almost 1000km from Iran itself💥 pic.twitter.com/mTwsZAIhQk

— World War Now (@WorldWarNow_) March 1, 2026

“I want to be clear: Our country does not participate in any way and does not intend to be part of any military operation,” the Cyprus president added.

There’s growing concern that the drones could have been sent from Iran’s proxy arm in Lebanon: Hezbollah. Israel has just renewed its bombing of Beirut and other parts of Lebanon after the Shia paramilitary group (or possibly another group) fired rockets on northern Israel.

Lebanon is only a short, hours-long boat ride away from Cyprus. Israel is also not very distant. The British military has two sovereign military bases which it has maintained on Cyprus since the independence of its former colony in 1960.