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Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told LBC this morning that the UK is not playing catch-up in Iran and defended the strategic deployment of military assets in the conflict zone.
Mr Lammy said he was not ‘embarrassed’ by the UK’s response to the conflict and how long it has taken for the Navy’s sole warship to reach Cyprus.
He told LBC: “There was rapid deployment into pre deployment into the region from January and February.
“That's why F35s were in the region, that's why radar is in the region. We've got 400 personnel dealing with air defences across the region.”
He said “HMS Dragon will be in the region in the coming weeks.”
“That is not the only capability we have to protect air defences in Cyprus and across the Gulf,” he added.
He said the government is "absolutely not" embarrassed about its response to the conflict.
The Defence Secretary also insisted the UK has been preparing to step up air defences in Cyprus “for weeks” amid allegations the Government has “dragged its feet” over the war.
John Healey rejected suggestions the UK has been slow in its response to attacks on British bases in the Mediterranean and insisted our relationship with the US remains “strong and deep” despite recent attacks on the Prime Minister by Donald Trump.
Mr Healey told LBC: “We had already, weeks ahead of this conflict, already strengthened air defences here on the island of Cyprus, not just to defend this base and our British forces personnel, but the island of Cyprus and neighbouring allied countries.
“We put extra air defences and fast jets in into Qatar as well to do the same thing.
“So, leading a coordinated regional defensive operation that we expected would be needed and that we've flown and helped lead from day one of this conflict.”
The comments come after US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned that the amount of firepower deployed in Iran is set to "surge dramatically."
Mr Hegseth, speaking from US Central Command, echoed sentiments from President Donald Trump that "the big wave" of attacks is coming to the conflict soon.
He told reporters that the war is "advancing decisively", adding: "Iran is hoping we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad calculation".
He also boasted that the US has "no shortage of munitions" and can sustain its campaign as long as it needs to.
"We have only just begun to fight, and fight decisively," he said.
Seemingly referring to UK and Spanish forces denying access to bases in the opening salvos of the conflict, the former Fox News analyst said the situation was "unfortunate".
"But we got there. We got there, and that's now part of the way that we're operationalising bomber runs. It's more fighter squadrons, it's more capabilities, it's more defensive capabilities, and it's more bomber pulses more frequently."
In a stark warning, Hegseth then declared: "The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically."
During the same press conference, the head of the US Central Command said the US has struck nearly 200 targets in Iran over the last 72 hours and sunk 30 of its ships.
Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters: "And in just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. And as we speak, it's on fire."
Cooper added that Iranian ballistic missile attacks have dipped by 90 percent while drone attacks had plummeted by 83 percent since the first day of the war.