Iceland must prepare for more human-made threats, foreign minister says
Wednesday 4th November 2026 on 12:46 in
Iceland
Icelanders need to prepare for a wider range of threats, including those caused by people, Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir said, according to mbl.is. She said the government was working to strengthen the country’s defence readiness while informing the public without causing alarm.
Her comments followed a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Earlier, Runólfur Þórhallsson, a deputy chief superintendent in the analysis department of the National Commissioner of Police, gave Justice Minister Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir the first copy of a public preparedness booklet. It will be distributed nationwide, and its information is also available online.
“We are educating, not frightening,” Þorgerður Katrín said. She added that people may need to be made more aware of potential threats. “These are different times, and we need to prepare for them, as all other countries in Europe are doing.”
The booklet highlights that dangers in Iceland are no longer limited to natural hazards and may also be human-made, she said. Þorgerður Katrín said authorities were aware of new “hybrid threats”, including sabotage that is often state-sponsored and linked to Russia.
She recalled that Finland’s defence minister, Antti Häkkänen, had asked her how many bunkers Iceland had in case of war. Finland has a different outlook because it shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, she said, but Iceland’s distance from conflict does not remove the need to assess risks and prepare for both known and unexpected threats.
“There are threats facing us, mostly from Russia, and we simply need to be ready,” she said, encouraging people to read the booklet.
The government is also working on further defence measures, including expanding facilities at Keflavík to support countries taking part in air policing. Þorgerður Katrín said a force of around 200 to 300 US personnel is usually in Iceland for submarine detection, and that radar stations are due to be renewed in cooperation with NATO.
She also said the cybersecurity team CERT-IS was being strengthened. The government would continue building on the defence and security policy approved earlier this year, which she described as a guiding framework.