The UK has not given the US permission to carry out strikes against Iran from Akrotiri air base - one of two British bases in Cyprus, the BBC reported, BTA reported.
The information has been widely cited by Cypriot media in the context of the permission the British government gave the US to use UK military bases to strike Iranian targets, from which the Islamic Republic fires missiles at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Concern in Cyprus has been ongoing since the Akrotiri base was hit earlier this month by a drone, possibly launched by the Iranian-linked Lebanese group “Hezbollah" - a concern that has intensified after yesterday's Iranian missile attack on the British-American base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
This week, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides called for an "open and honest conversation" about the future of British bases on the island, which he described as "a remnant of the colonial period" in Cyprus.
The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, is calling for an "open and honest conversation" about the future of British bases on the island when the crisis in the Middle East is over, the DPA agency reported.
Speaking after the European Council meeting in Brussels, Christodoulides said that the two bases were "a consequence of the colonization (of the island)" The statement casts doubt on their future, the agency also said.
"When the situation in the Middle East is resolved, we will have an open and honest conversation with the British government", the Cypriot president was quoted as saying by DPA. Asked if he wanted the bases to be closed, Christodoulides said he wanted to discuss "the status and future of the British bases", but that this would not be "discussed publicly".