Europe rallies around Cyprus during Iran war as Macron visits to show support for island

Source: AP

Updated 10:41 AM EDT, March 9, 2026


PAPHOS, Cyprus (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday pledged to defend Cyprus, days after dispatching a warship to the east Mediterranean island nation, where a Shahed drone struck a British air base on its southern coast last week during the Iran war.

“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” Macron said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Cyprus’ main air base near the southwestern town of Paphos. “We are bound to one another by strategic partnerships.”

The French president paid a visit to Cyprus to demonstrate his “full solidarity” with Cyprus, which sustained the first drone attack of the Iran war on European territory. Macron had ordered the French frigate Languedoc to waters off Cyprus, a fellow European Union member, to bolster its anti-drone and anti-missiles defenses. The French president also sent last week ground-based anti-drone and anti-missile defenses to the island.

Greece already dispatched four F-16 fighter planes to the Paphos air base and its two state-of-the-art frigates Kimon and Psara are already patrolling offshore Cyprus, tasked with intercepting any missiles or drones.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/cyprus-makron-mitsotakis-drones-frigates-shahed-7b7ba3828f3d7a95dbccfb28c62fd38e