The UK has agreed to a US request to use British military bases for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
But the prime minister said the UK had learned lessons from the "mistakes of Iraq", and was not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and "will not join offensive action now".
Sir Keir said the basis of the decision to accept the US request was the "collective self-defence" of allies and protecting British lives, accusing Iran of pursuing a "scorched-earth strategy".
The BBC understands the US is likely to use RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for strikes on Iranian missile sites.
In his video statement on Sunday, Sir Keir said the US would use UK bases for the "specific and limited defensive purpose" of destroying Iran's missiles "at source".
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There’s bit more justification quite a bit later in the article
>Iranian strikes have “hit airports and hotels where British citizens are staying”, and on Saturday “hit a military base in Bahrain, narrowly missing British personnel”, Sir Keir said.
>He added: “The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots, or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles.
>”The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose.
>”We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved.”
🇺🇸🤝🇬🇧 special relationship is clutch
We also have a French carrier being deployed for similar reasons. Iran seemingly lashing out at anyone (seriously, how is a hotel a US asset?) regardless if they were involved or not.
Meanwhile explosions are reported at British bases in Cyprus
Putting aside all the issues with how the situation started, this makes sense given the threat that Iranian strikes now pose across the region IMO.
Many things to criticise about Starmer’s government but I think his foreign policy has generally been good in respecting international norms without retreating from global conflicts.