Fake social media claims run wild that Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon was struck by missiles amid Iran war

Rumours ran rampant throughout social media on Easter Sunday (April 5) that a Royal Navy vessel sustained damage after being struck by the Lebanese militant group. Claims said they had mistaken the ship for an Israeli vessel.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) source, and UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) - which monitors attacks on British ships - said the claims were not true. Portsmouth-based destroyer HMS Dragon has been despatched to the eastern Mediterranean to protect Britain’s airbases on Cyprus. This was after a kamikaze drone struck a hangar at RAF Akrotiri on April 2, believed to have been fired from a pro-Iranian militia in western Iraq or Lebanon.

The Type 45 warship is among a number of British military assets in the region, which are defending UK bases and allied nations from Iranian-made drones and other weapons. Britain’s RAF Regiment gunners have continued to shoot down Iranian drones as they defend British airbases, according to the MoD.

UK Typhoons and F-35 jets, supported by Voyager and Royal Navy Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, have meanwhile continued defensive missions over the eastern Mediterranean, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Iran has been firing missiles at Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province today (April 7). Officials in Tehran urged youths to form human chains around power plants to protect them. This comes as the latest deadline set by US president Donald Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is closing in.

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Threats have been made to bomb all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not meet the 8pm EDT deadline today to allow full shipping traffic through the strategic waterway, which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime.

Iran choked off shipping through the strait after Israel and the US attacked on February 28, starting the war. Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal on April 6 and said it wants a permanent end to the war. A total of seven ballistic missiles were launched at Saudi Arabia.

Authorities in the Gulf nation said the projectiles rained debris on the ground near energy facilities as they were intercepted. Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said the damage was being assessed. Saudi Arabia said it was originally closing the King Fahd Causeway, a bridge that links the country to Bahrain.

The 15.5 mile bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula. This was later reopened.