March 21 (Reuters) – A British nuclear-powered submarine equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles has taken position in the Arabian Sea, giving Britain the capability to launch long-range strikes if regional conflict escalates, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The British Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
HMS Anson, armed with Tomahawk Block IV missiles and Spearfish torpedoes, left Perth earlier this month and travelled roughly 5,500 miles to the region, the Daily Mail said.
The submarine surfaces periodically to communicate with the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, where any launch order would be authorised by the prime minister and conveyed by the chief of joint operations, the report added.
The deployment comes after Downing Street authorised the U.S. to use British bases for strikes on Iranian sites threatening the Strait of Hormuz.
(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Editing by Nia Williams)
