On the defensive! MOD puts out videos of RAF shooting down Iranian drones ‘to defend Brits’ and sends aircraft carrier to the Med after Starmer was stung by Trump’s criticism of his hand-wringing

The Ministry of Defense has released footage of a Royal Air Force jet shooting down an Iranian drone after Donald Trump scolded Keir Starmer.

A video posted on social media on Tuesday evening showed a missile being destroyed by jets in Jordan as the RAF continued its mission to ‘defend the British in the Middle East’.

The Ministry of Defense said the strike was the first time an RAF F-35 aircraft had hit a target during the conflict with Iran, and Typhoon jets were supporting the operation in the skies.

Prime Minister will only allow British bases abroad to be used for ‘specific and limited defense purposes’, such as targeting Iranian missiles; It’s a decision that President Trump harshly criticized this evening.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said he was ‘not happy’ about Starmer’s lack of support and accused the Labor leader of being ‘very, very uncooperative’.

The United States and Israel triggered the conflict with the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following an attack on Tehran on Saturday.

Trump said at a press conference this evening: ‘The person we are facing is not Winston Churchill.’

The US President continued to criticize Britain’s approach to the ‘stupid island’ in a fresh lashing out at Sir Keir’s proposal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

President accuses British PM of ‘very, very uncooperative’ after refusing to allow US strikes from British military bases

‘This is not the age of Churchill. I will say that Britain was very, very uncooperative against that stupid island that they had, they gave it away and they took a 100-year lease,” Trump told reporters while sitting next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office.

‘Perhaps it has to do with the local people who have never seen the island before, claiming it. What’s all this about? ‘They destroy relationships, it’s a shame.’

Less than 24 hours have passed since Starmer was humiliated by the French for ordering a Royal Navy warship to sail to Cyprus to defend a UK air base against air strikes.

Cyprus has been an Iranian target in recent days, with the British RAF Akrotiri Base in Limassol hit by a drone on Sunday.

The Prime Minister sent the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon to the Mediterranean island on Tuesday along with anti-drone armed helicopters; however, it will take a week for the ship to complete the journey.

The Prime Minister, who has come under fire for leaving the task of defending the base to France and Greece while the Navy’s best anti-aircraft ships remain in Portsmouth, made the announcement this afternoon.

French Emmanuel Macron had previously told the president that he would send two frigates to Cyprus upon request for assistance.

These will reinforce forces already in the region and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier strike group, which has been ordered to deploy to the region from the Baltic Sea.

Greece also said it would send two frigates and fighter jets to defend the island, meaning it would have a greater naval presence in the region than Britain.

In a statement published on social media site X, Sir Keir said: ‘The United Kingdom is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and the British military personnel based there.

We are continuing our defense operations and I have just spoken to the President of Cyprus to inform him that we are sending helicopters with counter-drone capabilities and HMS Dragon will be deployed to the region.

It comes after the Prime Minister decided to send the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon to Cyprus to protect a British base

Emmanuel Macron orders troops to the eastern Mediterranean island after RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone that penetrated its air defenses on Sunday

‘We will always act in the interests of the UK and our allies.’

Another country that came under Trump’s fire was Spain, as the president claimed the Latin nation was ‘terrible’ since the start of the conflict.

Madrid had previously refused US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory in Iran, and Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned “an unjust, dangerous military intervention outside international law”.

Trump said the US had ‘cut off all trade’ with Madrid and added: ‘We want nothing to do with Spain.’

But he praised Germany and France and said their contributions to the war effort so far had been ‘wonderful, terrific’.

The conflict in the Middle East entered its fourth day on Tuesday; Iranian missiles continue to rain down on countries such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

A suicide missile hit the US Consulate building in Dubai this evening, but no one was injured.

Videos posted on social media showed a large cloud of smoke rising from the building, which is a short walk from the city’s British embassy.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that it was understood that the drone hit the parking lot next to the consulate building.

“When I entered, I also saw the news in the media about the Dubai consulate,” he told reporters at the press conference. ‘The last update I received was that unfortunately a drone had crashed into a car park adjacent to the Chancery building and subsequently started a fire there.

The US Consulate building in Dubai, which was reportedly hit by an Iranian drone on Tuesday, went up in flames.

Local emergency services managed to extinguish the fire quickly and no one was injured (Image: The view outside the Consulate building this evening)

‘All personnel are being held accountable. As you know, before this, we started to withdraw personnel from our diplomatic facilities.

This comes after sirens were sounded in Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai following reports of loud explosions.

Authorities said the explosions echoing across Dubai were caused by ‘interception operations’ carried out by air defense forces.

“The relevant Dubai teams continue to monitor the situation closely and are taking all necessary measures to ensure public safety,” Dubai Media Office said.

Since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, many countries in the Gulf region have become targets of Iran.

Territories in Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Cyprus were all hit by missiles; Thousands of Britons are still stranded in the area.