Carns calls drones “most effective killing weapon” the same day he deploys mine hunting drones to Hormuz

Former special forces soldier-turned-defence minister Alistair Carns boasted on Wednesday that drones were the “most effective killing weapons” at a summit in Riga, Latvia.

Thousands of miles away, the Ministry of Defence posted a video of Carns on Wednesday that showed him “droning about drones” on the RFA Lyme Bay, which they said had left Gibraltar for a mine-hunting mission in the Strait of Hormuz.

The post said:

RFA Lyme Bay has left Gibraltar, carrying underwater drones and cutting-edge minehunting kit, ahead of a potential deployment to safeguard navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Alistair Carns explains why this autonomous tech is so vital as part of a Hybrid Navy

🇬🇧 RFA Lyme Bay has left Gibraltar, carrying underwater drones and cutting-edge minehunting kit, ahead of a potential deployment to safeguard navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
@AlistairCarns explains why this autonomous tech is so vital as part of a Hybrid Navy 👇 pic.twitter.com/mDNbfGWmeU

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 27, 2026

In Riga, Carns spoke of drones as the dominant weapon of modern warfare, emphasising their lethality and urging NATO to “redesign, restructure” around them. Carns sure loves to drone on about the future of killing.

Carns’ “Defensive” action

UK’s involvement in the US and Israel’s war of choice and aggression on Iran is “defensive” only in words.

On April 17th, Starmer, along with France’s Macron, announced a multinational mission to protect commercial shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz and called it “strictly peaceful and defensive” in London.

Starmer also said it would only begin once fighting ends.

However, American forces conducted what a U.S. official said on Wednesday were “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran for the second time in three days.

Real. pic.twitter.com/RJDJCDzRMo

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 27, 2026

At the same time, the White House posted a clownish meme mocking Iran’s navy on the “bottom of the ocean.” The National reported a surge in US military flights from the publicly owned UK’s Prestwick Airport before the latest Iran strikes,

Does all this point to America’s willingness to end its illegal war? Starmer is misleading us again and again.

Carns boasts about the lethality of drones in Riga. Amid all this, the same drones leave Gibraltar for Hormuz. So, which is it — a defensive mine hunter or a killing weapon?

Featured image via Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images