The prime minister says it remains the case that the UK will "not join offensive action now".

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.

  • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOPEnglish
    7·
    4 days ago

    Not sure Dubai is thrilled its airport has been hit nor how much money they’re losing with airports shut

    Right - exactly. Iran is intentionally fucking up the bag for GCC states and hitting as many US-aligned military bases as possible, because that’s how they exert maximum pressure on the imperial core to back down. Making continued profits is more important to everyone in the region than fucking up Iran, with only Israel as the sole exception. The question is, how far will it go before the pressure on Trump becomes too much for him to continue the war.

    I think it’s quite unlikely that we’ll see anything like the Gulf War again - there’s just no appetite for it. Nobody but Israel really has very much to gain from this conflict.

    but on top of this say UK goes to war with Iran? how does this impact you?

    Young people from my country will die. The more the war escalates, the greater the risk of ongoing terror attacks for decades, plus another refugee crisis in Europe. If Iran does get their head kicked in as you put it, that’ll lead to the absolute worst outcome in that regard, basically this is how you get another ISIS, but even worse.

    • ikt@aussie.zone
      25·
      4 days ago

      Making continued profits is more important to everyone in the region than fucking up Iran, with only Israel as the sole exception. The question is, how far will it go before the pressure on Trump becomes too much for him to continue the war.

      Wha? Where are you seeing this?

      This is what I’m seeing, nothing against the US, the gulf states are pissed at Iran for spazzing out

      UAE Condemns in Strongest Terms Iran’s Blatant Missile Attacks Targeting the Country and Brotherly Nations

      https://www.mofa.gov.ae/MediaHub/News/2026/2/28/UAE-Iran

      UAE Announces Closure of Embassy in Tehran and Withdrawal of Ambassador and Diplomatic Mission, Condemns Iranian Missile Attacks

      https://www.mofa.gov.ae/en/MediaHub/News/2026/3/1/UAE-iran