UK is deploying its Rapid Sentry air defence system to Kuwait to help protect British and Kuwaiti interests in the Gulf, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said on Friday, after an overnight Iranian drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil facility.
Starmer discussed the deployment in a call with Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah on Friday morning, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
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“The Prime Minister began by condemning the reckless overnight drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil refinery,” the spokesperson said. “He reiterated that the UK stands with Kuwait and all our allies in the Gulf.”
The spokesperson said the leaders discussed the deployment of the UK’s air defence system – designed primarily to shoot down drones and other low-flying aerial threats – to Kuwait, which would protect Kuwaiti and UK personnel and interests in the region, while avoiding escalation into a wider conflict.
Starmer and the crown prince also discussed disruption to global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and welcomed a meeting chaired by UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper on Thursday to draw up a plan to reopen the vital shipping route.