Earlier, the Times newspaper reported ministers had discussed such a deployment.

An Iranian-made drone strike hit a runway at the Akrotiri base in the early hours of Monday, and Britain has said UK assets were targeted by Iran.

The Times report, citing three sources, states that Defence Minister John Healey had a meeting on Tuesday with senior military figures, in which they discussed sending HMS Duncan to the region.

The Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said France plans to send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus.