UK 'forces are active' and British planes involved in 'defensive operations' in Middle East
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that UK forces are "active" in the Middle East and involved in "regional defensive operations" to protect British allies.
Starmer gave a public statement on Saturday afternoon after chairing a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee, attended by ministers, military leaders and intelligence specialists.
The prime minister confirmed the UK "played no role" in US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran.
But he said: "As part of our commitments to the security of our allies in the Middle East, we have a range of defensive capabilities in the region, which we’ve recently taken steps to strengthen.
"Our forces are active and British planes are in the sky today as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests, and our allies - as Britain has done before, in line with international law."
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Starmer added: "We’ve stepped up protections for British bases and personnel to their highest level."
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) official told Middle East Eye that the British government had been informed of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday afternoon.
In his statement, the prime minister called the Iranian government "utterly abhorrent" and accused it of posing a "direct threat to dissidents and the Jewish community" in the UK.
He said Britain's primary aim is to ensure that Iran "must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
"That remains the primary aim of the United Kingdom and our allies - including the US."
British bases in the region
Starmer avoided criticising the US-Israeli attack but condemned "Iran’s attacks today on partners across the region, many of which are not parties to this conflict".
In late January, Britain deployed a squadron of Typhoon jets to Al Udeid Air Base near Doha at the invitation of the Qatari government.
The Ministry of Defence said the jets would form a joint British-Qatari unit, No 12 Squadron, to "bolster defensive capability in the region".
The jets are capable of shooting down Iranian Shahed-136 drones and were seen as preparation for potential Iranian retaliation to a US attack.
The UK also has a naval support facility in Bahrain and airbases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Cyprus.
Chris Doyle, the director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, told MEE: "The biggest risk would have been for Britain to participate in a war that is illegal and that would have had unclear and unachievable objectives and without the support of parliament.
"Keir Starmer has avoided that, but the government is clearly aware that if Iran is able to mount significant reprisals, they could impact leading British allies in the region.
"It could affect British supply routes. Clearly, there is a British interest in ensuring the Straits of Hormuz and the Suez Canal remain open, and that key allies are not meaningfully threatened."
Doyle added: "The risk Starmer is taking is that there will be a subsequent and significant fallout with the Trump administration.
"Success will mean that Trump will adopt an 'I told you so' approach. He will accept plaudits and maybe the fallout will not be too great.
"But if the United States gets dragged into a long, costly, painful conflict and its interests are damaged, then Starmer and the British government need to be wary of being part of the blame game afterwards."
Tensions over Diego Garcia
Earlier this week, 11 F-22 Raptors reportedly took off from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, supported by seven aerial refuelling tankers, and landed at Ovda Airbase in Israel’s Negev desert.
A source of tension between the US and the UK in recent weeks has been the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago.
The base places US bomber aircraft within 5,300km of Iran and would allow them to strike the Islamic Republic while avoiding Gulf airspace.
However, the British government would have to sign off on any US deployment from the base to attack Iran.
Last week, it was reported that Starmer had refused permission for British airbases in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean or RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire to be used as launchpads for an attack on Iran.
Iran's Shahed-136 kamikaze drones have the range to attack Diego Garcia, which houses around 4,000 people, mostly US military personnel and contractors.
Opposition politicians in Britain, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, on Saturday urged Starmer to allow the US to use British bases to attack Iran.
However, Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: "This is an illegal, unprovoked and brutal attack that shows once again that the USA and Israel are rogue states."
He urged the government to "end our cosy relationship with the USA and our ongoing support for Israel".
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