UK, France & Germany signal they could join war against Iran after regime strikes UK base in Cyprus, French & German troops stationed in Middle East

The war of the U.S. and Israel against the Iranian regime now threatens to engulf not just the Arab neighbors but also European nations, after missile strikes hit British, French and German bases and troops stationed in the Middle East over the weekend.

This includes the British military base RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, which was hit by a drone strike overnight and another reported attack on Monday morning, in the first military attack by the Iranian regime on the territory of the European Union. Cypriot reports later stated that the drones might have been launched by Hezbollah, not from Iran itself.

The leaders of the three countries published a joint statement under the banner of the E3 group on Sunday, saying they were “appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched by Iran against countries in the region, including those who were not involved in initial US and Israeli military operations.”

E3 Statement on Iranhttps://t.co/ybhmIaKKdw pic.twitter.com/HEQjJAOJsn

— Hans von der Burchard (@vonderburchard) February 28, 2026

“Iran’s reckless attacks have targeted our close allies and are threatening our service personnel and our civilians across the region,” they noted, calling on the regime to end the attacks.

Notably, the countries emphasized they will “take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region, potentially through enabling necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran’s capability to fire missiles and drones at their source.”

Despite the attack on the UK base in Cyprus, Middle East minister Hamish Falconer told BBC Radio Scotland that the UK was “not at war” with Iran yet, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to a U.S. request to use British bases for “defensive” strikes against Iran.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot expressed France’s full support and complete solidarity with the “allied countries that have been deliberately targeted by the missiles and drones of the Revolutionary Guards and dragged into a war they did not choose – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Jordan.”

“It stands ready… to take part in their defense,” he added. Some unconfirmed reports also suggested that the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, the only nuclear-powered carrier outside of the U.S. Navy, could be redeployed from the Baltic to the eastern Mediterranean.

⚡️ France may enter the war against Iran

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Paris is ready to join the defense of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. pic.twitter.com/g1EGEJVmiS

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 2, 2026

However, Barrot also noted that Israeli and U.S. attacks in Iran should have been debated in the United Nations, and that “it is only by going before the Security Council that the use of force can acquire the necessary legitimacy.”

Barrot said around 400,000 French citizens were residents or currently visiting countries in the Gulf region, adding that no French victims had been reported at this stage despite reports that an Iranian projectile had either hit directly, or close to, a French naval base in Abu Dhabi.

German troops stationed in Iraq have also come under fire. Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister once again backpedaled after surprisingly sharp comments made by Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the E3 statement had suggested Germany could participate in strikes on Iran.

Merz stressed in a media statement on Sunday that he won’t lecture Israel and the U.S. about their military strikes, lamenting that the German armed forces are not capable of offering effective support.

“The mullah regime is a terrorist regime responsible for decades of oppression of the Iranian people” and “threatens the State of Israel’s existence,” he noted.

“We share the interest that the terror of this regime stops and that its dangerous nuclear and ballistic armament is halted. The military strikes are intended to end the destructive game of a weakened regime… International law assessments will achieve relatively little. This is especially true if they largely have no consequences. Appeals from Europe, including from Germany, condemning Iranian violations of law and even extensive sanctions packages have achieved little over years and decades.”

“This has also been because we were not willing to enforce fundamental interests by military force if necessary. Therefore, now is not the time to lecture our partners and allies. Despite all doubts, we share many of their goals, without being able to actually achieve them ourselves,” said Merz, who has previously declared his intention to make Germany’s military into the largest on the continent after decades of decline.

German Foreign Minister Wadephul later affirmed that German soldiers stationed in the region would defend themselves, but that Germany would not approve offensive operations as “⁠We do not have the corresponding military resources, and the German government definitely has no intention of participating in any way.”

“The only thing we would do, of course, is take defensive measures by the soldiers we have deployed,” Wadephul said, after Israel’s Army Radio reported that Germany was considering options from joining bombing sorties to providing military and aerial assistance.