Does the Iran War Signal Europe’s Military Takeover of Cyprus?

In the early hours of Monday morning local time, an Iranian drone hit a British air base in Cyprus. During the day, several more were intercepted.

The drone attacks killed no one and reportedly did little damage. Yet their implications for the future of the Middle East could be huge.

Britain’s response was sluggish. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he would send hms Dragon to defend the island. But the ship is in dry dock and isn’t expected to arrive for another couple of weeks.

Yet it wasn’t Britain that Cyprus turned to for help in this emergency. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides spent Monday calling European leaders.

That day he spoke to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “[L]et me be clear: We stand collectively, firmly and unequivocally with our member states in the face of any threat,” she posted on X after the call.

The European response wasn’t just talk. Greece announced on Monday that two frigates and several F-16 fighters would be deployed immediately. One of the ships, the Kimon, is Greece’s most advanced; it entered service at the end of last year. Both ships arrived yesterday.

Christodoulides said Cyprus and Greece “stand united”—thanking Greece for its prompt response. It was “a move of particular importance which also paves the way for the European Union,” he said. “Your immediate response is followed by other European states.”

On Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron said the frigate Languedoc was due to arrive in Cypriot waters that same day. He also announced that France’s aircraft carrier strike group would deploy from the Baltic to the Eastern Mediterranean. France is the only power in the world, other than the United States, to operate a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Christodoulides also called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, asking for a German frigate. “Merz responded positively, and a formal decision by the German government is expected soon,” reported the Cyprus Mail. Germany lacks a Mediterranean coast, so a German ship would take several days to arrive.

Christodoulides is also seeking help from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Britain’s air force bases brought Cyprus under attack. Yet Britain is unwilling or unable to protect Cyprus. How much longer will Cyprus tolerate Britain putting its island in the firing line without being able to defend it?

Greece has long been a close friend of the Greek-Cypriot government. Combine that with France’s quick and powerful response, and the EU looks like a much safer military partner.

A Cypriot government spokesman has already expressed the government’s “dissatisfaction” with Britain’s lack of clear communication. They have demanded that “British bases in Cyprus would under no circumstances be used for any purpose other than humanitarian reasons.”

“All necessary steps will be taken to communicate our dissatisfaction, both with the way this message was communicated and the fact that yesterday there was no timely warning to citizens of Cyprus living near the Akrotiri bases, he said. Asked if Cyprus would renegotiate the status of the bases, he responded: “In this context, we are not ruling anything out.”

The bases remain British, but clearly Cyprus is looking to the EU for protection. It won’t be long before the bases follow.

The fact that Cyprus almost immediately makes the news after any major Middle Eastern conflict shows how critical it is.

Cyprus’s intelligence facilities are probably more important than its air bases—and they almost certainly have been used in the attack on Iran. Leaks released by Edward Snowden show the U.S. National Security Agency helps fund these listening posts. Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters wrote that one of these raf Troodos “has long been regarded as a ‘Jewel in the Crown’ by nsa as it offers unique access to the Levant, North Africa and Turkey.”

The U.S. is believed to have helped Israel in its war in Gaza by passing on intelligence gleaned from Cyprus.

After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, Cyprus became a crucial hub for nations evacuating their citizens from the region. Germany and the Netherlands deployed droops to aid in the evacuations, and 16,000 Israelis fled there.

Britain may have bases in Cyprus, but Germany established its economic dominance there after bailing out the country during its economic crisis of 2012–13. In recent years, Germany’s military relationship with Cyprus has stepped up, with Germany basing its naval presence in the region as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (unifil). In 2022, the two signed their first Bilateral Defense Cooperation Program, which began joint military exercises.

Cyprus took up the European Council’s rotating presidency at the start of this year. When presenting his priorities, Christodoulides said he wanted the EU to be “capable of responding swiftly and effectively to crisis situations.” He has been strengthening Cyprus’s military to make it a dependable partner for the EU in the Mediterranean. No wonder he quickly turned to the EU for help.

“Justified as it might be, Brexit puts the future of those bases on Cyprus in doubt,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 2019. “I forecast that Britain is going to lose control of those bases. This means it is only a matter of time before the United States is pushed out as well.”

“About a million EU citizens live on Cyprus,” he wrote. “Cyprus is a tiny island surrounded by the EU and full of EU citizens. The rising powers in the area are not led by Washington and London, but by Rome and Berlin.”

The way the EU has responded to defend those citizens shows that Cyprus is part of the EU’s military machine, not Britain’s.

In 1980, Herbert W. Armstrong told Cyprus’s Acting President Georgios Ladas that a German-led Europe would take control of the island. He based this forecast on specific Bible prophecies.

Revelation 17 describes a beast power, a resurrection of previous iterations of the Holy Roman Empire, but this time comprised of 10 kings. Because of this prophecy, Mr. Armstrong said in 1945 that Germany would rise again as part of a “European union.” This power would be led by a woman, or a church in Bible prophecy, and it would have a strong focus on Jerusalem.

“Previous resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire have launched more than one crusade from Cyprus,” explained Mr. Flurry. “That last resurrection of this empire will be led by the Catholic Church, and it will embark on one more crusade. You can see this empire moving toward Jerusalem already in its conquests.”

This is why the EU is so interested in Cyprus. It’s not doing much to strike Iran now, but it is preparing for great military advancements in the Middle East—on its own terms.

America is pummeling Iran now, but Germany and France are preparing for the time when Britain and America leave the Middle East. And Cyprus is their bridge to the region.

Their focus on Cyprus reveals their ambition to move into the region. And it reveals much more. When you understand what the Bible says about events in the Middle East, it will bring the Bible to life and show you the real meaning behind these news events. Mr. Flurry’s article “Why Germany Conquered Cyprus” will help you understand all that and more.