East of Suez

Both the United States and the USSR threatened the British to relent, exposing the now marginalized economic and military influence of the UK and its loss of superpower status, limiting its access to its bases in the Middle East and Asia.

Furthermore, the report argued that as Britain begins to relocate its troops from Germany by 2020, the British base in the UAE could become their permanent home.

This shift of troops to the UAE coincided with establishment of the Royal Navy's UK Maritime Component Command (UKMCC) in Bahrain.

In December, the UK's Chief of Defence Staff Gen Sir David Richards said: "After Afghanistan, the [Persian] Gulf will become our main military effort".

[20][21] In 2014, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that the UK would expand its naval facilities in Bahrain to accept larger Royal Navy ships deployed to the Persian Gulf.