British Prime Minister announced in a video on Sunday that, while reiterating not to get involved in the war, the United Kingdom will allow the United States to use British military bases to carry out “defensive” missions aimed at destroying Iran’s missile capabilities.
Sir Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, released a video on the evening of March 1st, stating a change in the previous decision to prohibit the United States from using British military bases, allowing the US to carry out “defensive” missions targeting the destruction of Iran’s missile capabilities.
In the video, Starmer said, “In the past two days, Iran has launched ongoing attacks in the region. This is clearly very dangerous, and our allies in the Gulf region are hoping we can do more.”
“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy these missiles at their source – whether in storage facilities or on launchers used to fire the missiles.” This statement comes after an escalation of threats targeting British military, civilian, and commercial interests in the Middle East.
He added, “The United States has requested permission to use British bases solely for this specific and limited defensive purpose. We have decided to accept this request.”
The British government also released a summary of legal opinions, stating that the relevant actions will “focus solely on ending Iran’s illegal aerial and missile attack threats against regional allies – allies that have not been involved in hostile actions from the beginning. This does not mean that the UK will become more broadly involved in the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran.”