Foreign minister Antonio Tajani summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest an attack on a British air force base in Cyprus early on Monday by an Iranian-made drone as part of Tehran’s retaliation over attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel which began at the weekend.
“I summoned the Iranian ambassador after the attack in Cyprus to say that Europe has nothing to do with this matter and must not be involved in any way,” Tajani told reporters at the foreign ministry’s crisis unit on Tuesday.
The strike, reportedly launched by an Iranian proxy, Lebanese group Hezbollah, struck a runway at the Akrotiri airbase. The attack prompted a partial evacuation of the RAF base and sent residents scrambling for shelter, although no casualties were reported.
Popular with holidaymakers, European Union member Cyprus is home to thousands of foreign companies. The drone struck the Akrotiri base hours after British premier Keir Starmer agreed to let the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites.
