Rome: Italy will send a naval vessel or vessels to protect Cyprus from further Iranian attacks “in the next few days,” Italy’s defence minister said.
“With Spain, France and Holland, we will send naval assets to protect Cyprus in the next few days,” Guido Crosetto told Italy’s parliament in a statement.
An Italian navy vessel able to reach Cyprus quickly would be the Spartaco Schergat, a FREMM frigate which is off the coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean and is due to conclude its involvement in the NATO Dynamic Manta exercise. It will however need to return to base in Sicily for refueling before a mission to Cyprus.
One defence official, who declined to be named, said a better option would however be one of Italy’s larger Horizon-class destroyers, given their longer range radar. The challenge is their location: The Andrea Doria is off the coast of Norway while the Caio Duilio is undergoing regular maintenance at La Spezia in Italy.
Nations sending vessels to Cyprus would not necessarily need to operate under one national command but could cooperate, the official said.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, to discuss security in the Gulf and Cyprus, her office said.
Macron announced that he ordered the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, deployed to northern Europe for exercises, to the Mediterranean.
The move comes as the war in Iran risks spilling over to Europe’s southeastern edge. For example, RAF Akrotiri, a British military base in southern Cyprus that has previously served as as a hub for US and UK Middle East aerial operations, was targeted by Iranian strike drones this week.
Close Cyprus ally Greece has already sent two frigates to the island.
The French naval strike group is scheduled to arrive in the Mediterranean late this week or early next week, French Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin told RTL radio.
The Spanish frigate Cristóbal Colón has already joined the Charles the Gaulle formation on its way to Cyprus, Spanish defence officials said.
“The ‘Cristóbal Colón’ is our most technologically advanced frigate. Its mission in the Mediterranean will be to offer protection and air defence, thus complementing the capabilities of our Patriot battery deployed in Turkey,” reads a Spanish ministry of defence statement. “It will also be on standby to support any evacuation of civilian personnel who may be affected by the conflict.”
Meanwhile, the British Type 45 destroyer Dragon, announced by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the chosen ship to help secure the country’s Cyprus base, was still being readied for the snap deployment, the BBC reported.
Fresh out of maintenance, the ongoing loading of ammunition means the Dragon will likely be stuck in Portsmouth until next week, according to the report.
The Dutch frigate Evertsen is also part of the group of ships heading to the Mediterranean, but defence officials in the Netherlands have yet to decide what the vessel will be tasked to do once there.
German defence officials appear to be in no rush to consider sending ships supporting a naval Cyprus protection mission in response to the Iran war fallout, though chancellor Merz has said Berlin would assist “in preventative measures.”
Regional assistance and NATO defence plans for the region currently add up to a sufficient degree of preparedness, a government spokesman said.
Meloni said Italy would be sending air defence systems to protect Gulf states. “Italy, like the UK, France and Germany, aim to send help to the Gulf states, and we clearly talking about air defence,” she said.
Speculation is mounting in Italy that Rome will send a Samp-T air defence system.
