Cyprus wants the British government to give it guarantees that future prime ministers cannot unilaterally use the two UK sovereign bases on the island for strikes in the Middle East. The push follows March’s Iran crisis and a renewed concern in Nicosia that the next government in London could decide differently.
President Nikos Christodoulides is the man putting the issue back on the table. After an Iranian drone struck RAF Akrotiri on March 2, he called for talks on the future of the colonial bases, and Cypriot officials now want the discussion to end with concrete limits on how the sites can be used in wartime.
That urgency exists because the bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia are not ordinary foreign installations. Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, but London kept the two sites as sovereign territory, giving the United Kingdom broad control even as they sit on Cypriot soil. In March, Keir Starmer refused to let the United States use the bases for offensive airstrikes on Iran, then later allowed their use for the narrower defensive purpose of stopping Iranian attacks. Cyprus welcomed that decision, but it also exposed the gap between what London chose to do this time and what a future government might permit.
That is where Farage enters the picture. British and Cypriot officials have both said there is concern that a future UK government led by Nigel Farage might take a different view, and Farage himself initially backed the use of overseas British bases in Cyprus and the Chagos archipelago for offensive strikes against Iran before later softening his language and saying: “If we can’t even defend Cyprus, let’s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.” Reform UK is leading in opinion polls, and with the next UK general election not expected until 2029, after the end of Donald Trump’s second term in 2028, Cyprus is trying to lock in protections before the political weather changes again.
The hardest part is that nobody has yet spelled out the mechanism Cyprus wants. Nicosia says it wants assurances that future governments led by Farage would not be able to act alone, but the public case stops short of saying whether that means a treaty change, a new legal understanding or a political pledge from London. The European Council has said it acknowledges Cyprus’s intention to open talks with the UK and stands ready to help if needed, while Nicosia plans to raise the issue once the war in Iran is over.
Christodoulides is not only arguing about one strike or one crisis. He is pressing for a rule that would survive the next one.
