Sir Keir Starmer is under increasing pressure to back the US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The Prime Minister has condemned Iran’s “utterly abhorrent” regime, but both he and his ministers have avoided saying whether the Government supports the attacks or believes they are legal.
His refusal puts him at odds with other world leaders, including those of Canada and Australia, as well as Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage. They have all expressed support for the strikes.
Sir Keir spoke to the heads of state of Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan to offer “solidarity” and “support” on Sunday morning.
The Government has refused to say whether it believes the US-Israeli strikes – which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, in his Tehran compound – are legal.
However, Sir Keir is also facing demands from senior figures on the Labour Left to condemn the US attacks on Iran as a breach of international law.
John Healey, the Defence Secretary, refused six times to say whether the UK backed the action on Sunday, telling the BBC: “Britain played no part in the strikes on Iran.
“We share, however, the primary aim of all allies in the region and the US that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon.”
The Government is believed to have refused to allow Donald Trump, the US president, to mount air strikes on Iran from British military bases, including Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, and RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, on the basis that doing so would breach international law.
Mr Healey said it was a matter for the US to lay out the legal grounds for its attack, saying: “The straight answer to the question of is the US action legal? That is for the US to set out and explain. It’s not for me as a Defence Secretary of the UK.”
Other world leaders have backed the US-Israeli action, with Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, saying he “supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security”.
Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, used similar language, while Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, also backed the action.
Britain’s refusal to allow the US to use its military bases for attacks is reportedly based on a legal opinion drafted by Lord Hermer, the Attorney General.
On Sunday, Lord Frost, the Brexit minister under Boris Johnson, wrote on X: “It is obvious that the Starmer Government does not support these strikes and does not think they are within international law.
“They are trying very hard to avoid having to say so because they know how damaging it would be. Healey is one of the few capable and serious members of this Cabinet. His awkward forms of words and agonised body language betray all too clearly how unhappy he is with this position.”
Mr Farage, the Reform leader, urged the Prime Minister to allow the use of British military bases and “support the Americans in this vital fight”.
He also demanded that Sir Keir follow the EU’s lead and proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
Mrs Badenoch, the Tory leader, said she “stands with our allies in the US and Israel” as they “take on the threat” of Iran, while Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, questioned why Sir Keir was not more proactive in the build-up to the strikes.
he said: “A lot of this has been about why has Keir Starmer not actually worked with our American allies to be much more proactive?
“On the basis that a lot of intelligence is shared between our two countries, the Americans would easily have shared – and rightly so – details of their plans. Why were some of our bases not used? And was the British Government asked about use of our military bases in the defensive strikes that took place?”
Britain has been involved in “active” defensive action during the strikes, including over Cyprus, where Iranian ballistic missiles were fired towards a UK military base.
Mr Healey said two ballistic missiles were “fired in the direction of Cyprus” on Saturday and that British forces were involved in shooting down Iranian drones.
The air base was not hit and it is not believed the Iranian regime was actively targeting Akrotiri, which is a crucial stepping stone for Britain to carry out strikes in the Middle East.
The missiles were launched as Iran responded to the US-Israeli military action with a flurry of strikes across the region on Saturday, hitting Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha and Israel.
Sir Keir spoke to the King of Bahrain, the Crown Prince of Kuwait and the King of Jordan on Sunday morning.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “He expressed the UK’s solidarity in the face of dangerous Iranian escalation, which has seen indiscriminate missile and drone attacks launched at their countries in the last 24 hours.
“They discussed the safety of civilians in the region, including British nationals and Armed Forces personnel, and expressed deep concern that strikes have hit civilian and commercial infrastructure – harming innocent people.
“He reiterated that the UK has had planes in the sky since yesterday as part of the coordinated defensive response to protect our partners in the region, and would continue to offer our support.”
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