A British warship made a stop in Gibraltar as it heads to the eastern Mediterranean amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, AFP reports.

HMS Dragon stopped in the British territory to take on supplies and conduct a personnel changeover, Britain’s defence ministry said in a statement.

The warship, capable of shooting down drones and ballistic missiles, left its base in Portsmouth in southern England on March 10.

Britain deployed the vessel following criticism from opposition politicians and the Cypriot government over a perceived slow response to a drone attack on Britain’s Akrotiri base in southern Cyprus.

Gibraltar, a rocky outpost at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is a strategic gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.