European powers said on Thursday they would work together to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea and send naval and other assets to protect Cyprus as the expanding US–Iran war entered its sixth day.
The conflict - which has widened beyond Persian Gulf states to the Mediterranean, where a drone strike hit a British air base on Cyprus on Monday, and as far afield as Asia - has convulsed global markets and sent oil and gas prices soaring.
Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands will send naval assets to protect Cyprus in the coming days, Rome's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told parliament.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with the prime ministers of Italy and Greece on Thursday and, "they all agreed to step up cooperation to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea and to coordinate the dispatch of military assets to Cyprus," a senior source said.
The plans ruled out any direct involvement in the war, underlining the delicate balance European governments are seeking to strike over the conflict involving their long-term ally the United States.
"We are not at war and we do not want to enter a war," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a radio interview on Thursday.
On Cyprus, British Defence Secretary John Healey met his Cypriot counterpart on Thursday to discuss plans to further reinforce air defences.
“The longstanding friendship between the UK and the Republic of Cyprus is strong in the face of Iranian threats,” Healey said on social media.
Britain has said it will deploy a destroyer to the region along with additional helicopters equipped with counter-drone capabilities, although HMS Dragon is not expected to arrive until next week.
Wary of offending its large and politically active Muslim population, Britain has not joined the US and Israel in taking offensive action against Iran, though it has taken part in defensive operations including shooting down drones. The government has also given the United States permission to launch limited defensive actions from some British bases.
Western officials believe a drone that hit the Akrotiri base on Cyprus was most likely launched by Iran-backed Hezbollah from Lebanon.
Both Britain and the Cypriot administration have said the island would not be used for attacks on Iran.
Socialist Spain, which had so far refrained from involving itself in defensive operations, said on Thursday it will send its frigate Christopher Columbus used for air defence to Cyprus.
The ship will assist the Patriot missile interceptor system that Spain deploys in Turkey.
The Dutch government said on Wednesday it was weighing a request to help secure maritime traffic threatened by the escalating crisis.
Meloni said on Thursday Rome would respond to requests from gulf nations seeking air defence equipment to counter Iranian air strikes, citing the need to protect Italian citizens and troops in the region.
"These are people we want to, and must, protect," she told radio station RTL 102.5.
Sources told Reuters this week that supplies could include SAMP/T surface-to-air missile batteries, although no final decision has been taken and Rome has not specified which countries would receive the aid.
A French military official said on Thursday that Paris has authorised a temporary presence of US aircraft at certain bases in France, provided they do not take part in operations against Iran.
The agreement did not cover French bases in the Middle East, the official said. "Given the context, France demanded that these assets strictly support the defence of our partners in the region," the official said.
(Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi in Milan, Angelo Amante in Rome, Inti Landauro in Paris, additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti and William James in London; Paolo Laudani in Madrid, writing by Giselda Vagnoni, Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Heavens)
