UK jets failed to shoot down Iranian missiles

The BBC understands that British military jets did not shoot down any Iranian ballistic missiles fired overnight. Nor did the Royal Navy Destroyer, HMS Duncan, fire any of her Sea Viper missiles.

The UK Defence Secretary, John Healey, earlier said that UK forces “played their part” to prevent escalation in last night’s mass Iranian ballistic missile strike on Israel.

But so far the Ministry of Defence has given no further detail of how they were involved.

Royal Air Force Typhoon jets based in Cyprus shot down a number of Iranian drones last April. But they are not equipped to track and shoot down ballistic missiles.

In a later update, the UK's MoD confirmed two Typhoon fighter jets and a Voyager air-to-air tanker were involved, but provided no more detail than to confirm they did not "engage any targets".