Britain's defense secretary said Sunday that "Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks" to US-Israeli strikes included "two ballistic missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus", but which were likely not "targeted" at the Mediterranean island.
"We had two ballistic missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus," John Healey told the BBC, noting UK warplanes were involved in "defensive" actions in the region, operating from the UK's airbase on the island.
"Now we are pretty sure they weren't targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless it demonstrates how our bases, our personnel, military and civilians at the moment are at risk," he said, without providing further details about the missiles and any interception of them.
He accused Tehran of being "increasingly indiscriminate, widespread and uncontrolled in the attacks it's mounting".
Healey revealed the previously undisclosed missile incidents as pointing to "a really serious and deteriorating situation" in the Middle East and the "rising risks of increasing Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks".
"It's an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act. It requires us to act defensively," he told Sky News in a separate interview Sunday.
"Alongside the Americans, we've stepped up our defensive forces in the Middle East. We're flying those sorties. We're taking down the drones that are menacing either our bases, our people or our allies," Healey said.
Healey said that "few people will mourn" Ali Khamenei, in the British government's first public response to the Iranian supreme leader's death in US-Israeli strikes.
"Iran and the regime he's led for so long, it's a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain," Healey told Sky News.
