- Royal Navy facility in Bahrain will house up to 600 UK military personnel
- The base HMS Juffair will be opened by Prince Charles next month
- It will protect ships bringing oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz
Britain will open its first permanent military base in the Middle East in over four decades next month.
The multi-million-pound Royal Navy facility in Bahrain will house up to 600 UK military personnel.
HMS Juffair, which will be opened by Prince Charles, will become the staging-post for Britain in the Middle East and is designed to assert influence over the Gulf.
It is Britain’s first new permanent military base in the Middle East since 1971.
Bahrain has paid most of the £30million-plus cost, with the UK contributing around £7.5million.
It will protect ships bringing oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz. In 2012, Iran threatened to close the strait in response to international sanctions.
Although it is too shallow for Britain’s new £6.2billion aircraft carriers, the base will be used by special forces and by Navy destroyers, frigates and minehunters to fight extremists in the region and launch missions against Islamic State.
Diplomatic sources said: ‘The project could save the Ministry of Defence millions because they won’t have to travel back to the UK.’
The base was offered to former secretary Philip Hammond in 2012 to store equipment and launch deadly top-secret missions from.
The opening comes as the UK is pushing to strengthen economic and military ties in the region.
It will be used as a forward operating base and a place to plan, store equipment for naval operations and accommodate Navy personnel, as well as troops from the other services.
One of the main reasons for the base is for it to be part of a contingency operation in case any country tries to block UK commercial ships from passing through the Straits of Hormuz.
The ships carrying oil and gas from countries such as Qatar pass through the heavily-trafficked waterway every 48 hours.
The shipping waterway connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world and Iran regards its proximity to the channel as a key strategic asset and has become a flashpoint for Tehran and Washington.
A Navy source said: ‘If we miss out on too much oil and gas then the lights will start to go out.’ He said Britain would start to feel the effects as soon as two weeks.
Ships can also be repaired at the base in Bahrain’s Mina Salman Port.
In 2014 when the project began, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: ‘This new base is a permanent expansion of the Royal Navy’s footprint.
‘It will enable Britain to send more and larger ships to reinforce stability in the Gulf.’
Its creation has prompted concerns from human rights campaigners who have said the ruling family in Bahrain is overseeing an on-going crackdown on human rights and freedom of expression.’
An MoD spokesman said: ‘It will provide a permanent expansion of the Ministry of Defence’s presence in the Gulf and to support current, on-going and future operations.’
The spokesman said it would provide ‘enduring utility for Royal Navy and other military personnel in a region of strategic importance.’
