RAF jets flying defensive missions after US-Israeli attack on Iran, Starmer says
Keir Starmer has said RAF fighter jets are flying “in the sky today” to defend allies in the Middle East against Iranian retaliation after the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign aimed at regime change in Tehran.The UK did not participate in the first waves of strikes against Iran on Saturday morning and has no immediate intention of doing so, but fighter jets were running defensive operations from Qatar and Cyprus to shoot down any incoming drones and missiles.Iran launched an immediate counterattack, including strikes on Israel and Jordan as well as on US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.British forces are located at the bases in small numbers.Details of the operations were scant, and the Ministry of Defence would not specify which countries and bases were being defended, though the UK recently boosted deployments in case there was an escalation of hostilities.
Last month, the UK deployed RAF Typhoons to Qatar to protect al-Udeid airbase in the country and other allied military facilities in the region.An extra six F-35s and additional air defence, radar and counterdrone systems were deployed to the RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus, from where they could be deployed to defend Israel, Jordan or other countries in the Middle East.British nationals in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were advised to immediately shelter in place after reports of Iranian missile attacks.The Foreign Office advised against all travel to Israel and Palestine.The prime minister, in a joint statement with his French and German counterparts, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, said: “We did not participate in these strikes”, but all three leaders added that they were in contact with the US, Israel and other regional allies.
The bulk of the three leaders’ comments focused on Iran.“We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms.Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes.We urge the Iranian leadership to seek a negotiated solution.Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future,” they said.
It is understood British airbases were not used by the US air force as part of the attack; Starmer rejected a request from Donald Trump to use RAF bases in Diego Garcia and Fairford earlier this month,The US and Israel have started a wide-ranging campaign aimed at regime change in Iran, as well as bombing its nuclear and missile sites,But in its initial statement, Britain would only say it did not want Tehran to have a nuclear weapon,A government spokesperson said: “Iran must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and that is why we have continually supported efforts to reach a negotiated solution,Our immediate priority is the safety of UK nationals in the region and we will provide them with consular assistance, available 24/7.
“As part of our longstanding commitments to the security of our allies in the Middle East, we have a range of defensive capabilities in the region, which we have recently bolstered.We stand ready to protect our interests.“We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict.”Earlier on Saturday, Starmer chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee to discuss how the UK would respond to the bombing of Iran, and Tehran’s retaliation.The chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Emily Thornberry, said the UK should resist being drawn into a conflict in the Middle East.
The Labour MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she did not think the US-Israeli strikes were legal.“As far as I’m aware, we’re not involved in this,” she said.“There’s not been British agreement to be involved in this, and I think that’s the right thing to do.I don’t think that there’s a legal basis for this action.”Thornberry added that the US and Israel “were not under imminent threat, and so it’s therefore difficult to see what the legal justification is”.
Asked whether the UK should resist being drawn into the conflict, Thornberry said: “Absolutely, unless we’re attacked ourselves, which, as I say, unfortunately this morning, we don’t know whether we will be because there may be attacks by the Iranians on western bases in the Arab Gulf, and so then the situation may change.We just don’t know.”The leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, said she supported the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.In a post on X, the Conservative leader said: “I stand with our allies in the US and Israel as they take on the threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its vile regime.The same regime that carries out attacks on the UK and on our citizens, that seeks to build nuclear weapons that would threaten our country and that brutally repressed pro-democracy protests only months ago and murdered thousands of its own people.
“Under my leadership, the Conservative party will always put our national security first and work with our allies to make the world a safer place.”
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