In linking Iran to Russia, Healey could be laying ground for hard choices ahead

Defence secretary connects Middle East conflict to plight of Ukraine, sympathy for which remains relatively high After a week or so of wearing media coverage about the deterioration of the Anglo-American relationship and the belated decision to deploy Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon to Cyprus, it was time to move the conversation on. On a visit to the UK’s permanent military headquarters in Northwood, north-west London, the defence secretary, John Healey, asked two senior British military officers if there was “any sign of a link between Russia and Iran” in the sprawling conflict that has suddenly engulfed the Middle East. It was obvious Healey knew what answer he was going to get. The night before, it emerged, an unspecified number of drones had struck a coalition base, used by British and other anti-Islamic State forces, in Erbil, northern Iraq. Though there are no reports of serious casualties, it was a relatively rare hit on a western target. That the drones got through was, the minister was told, a reflection of a greater tactical sophistication – know-how passed from Russia to Iran and its proxies. Lt Gen Nick Perry, the chief of joint operations, acknowledged that the more e