Angered by the British decision, Iceland decided to submit a formal complaint to NATO about their move, and it also provoked more than 80,000 Icelandics (equal to 25% of its entire population) to sign an online petition set up under the heading "Icelanders are not terrorists". The relationship became more tense, and Iceland made it clear that UK patrols in its airspace were not appropriate given the state of affairs and subsequently on 14 November the UK had to cancel its patrols and defense of the Icelandic airspace, which before the dispute had been scheduled to start in December 2008. Iceland has no standing army of its own, and relies on a long-term standing agreement with NATO where a group of member states have committed in turns to defend the Icelandic airspace, and the UK Royal Air Force had now cancelled this after mutual agreement with NATO (although presumably with another member state having accepted to takeover the liability).