Al Carns told LBC "we've got to accept that war or conflict or crisis can evolve in any way, shape or form"
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The defence minister has told LBC the UK can’t rule anything out in the Middle East conflict, as the Ministry of Defence plans for “a variety of different scenarios”.
Al Carns noted the conflict in the Middle East is fast-changing, as he told LBC's Tom Swarbrick: "War can take a turn, left, right, 180 and it can move really, really fast."
The minister said all options were still on the table, but declined to go into specific details of what this could mean for the UK.
He said: "We have some of the best planners in the world within the Ministry of Defence all the way through to government, working on all a variety of different scenarios as they progress.
"That's called prudent military planning and I'd expect our military forces to be doing that and we've got to accept that war or conflict or crisis can evolve in any way, shape or form.”
However, he said he "can almost categorically, in the short term, absolutely rule [out boots on the ground]" in Iran.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer did not allow the US to use British bases in the opening assault against the Tehran regime, as he has suggested it could have been unlawful and lacked a “viable, thought-through plan”.
In response to Iran’s retaliatory actions, Sir Keir has since given the US permission to use British bases for the limited purpose of attacking missile launchers and infrastructure, but RAF jets have not been involved in striking Iran.
Western officials said on Wednesday that US bombers had not yet used Diego Garcia or Fairford but that the UK was ready to accept them and that they were expected to arrive within the next few days.
The Government has also been criticised for failing to have enough military assets in the Middle East region after RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone.
Air defence destroyer HMS Dragon will be sent to the eastern Mediterranean to help protect Cyprus, but the Type 45 warship is not expected to sail until next week.
Sir Keir said Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities would be on the Mediterranean island this week.
Mr Carns addressed the time taken to deploy HMS Dragon, and promised they are working "as fast as we possibly can".
He told LBC: “The reality is that that asset is used to support the carrier strike group as an air defence platform.
"It is not used usually as a point defence platform of an island.
"And so it was getting prepared actually to go to a different location with a different weapons fit.
"To refit that system with different types of weapons while we're doing maintenance on it – weapons and welding don't often go well together – take some time."
"We've reduced the timeline significantly to get that asset rolling," he added.
