The US has been given permission to use British bases for limited attacks on Iran’s missile capabilities after Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on the plan, with British Defense Secretary John Healey saying on Sunday that Britain had “acted alongside the Americans”.
“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at their source, either at their storage depots or at the launchers used to fire the missiles,” Starmer confirmed in a recorded statement to the nation.
“The US has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose,” he said. “We have decided to accept this request.”
The decision came amid an escalation in the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signed a plan to use British bases for limited attacks on Iranian missile capabilities. (Kin Cheung/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
On February 28, in the wake of Operation Epic Fury, Starmer confirmed that British aircraft “are in the skies today” across the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies.”
Healey also announced on Sunday that two Iranian missiles were fired towards Cyprus, where Britain has important sovereign base areas.
The Royal Air Force confirmed that Typhoon jets operating from Qatar as part of the joint UK-Qatar Typhoon Squadron successfully intercepted an Iranian drone en route to Qatar.
About 300 British personnel are based at a naval facility in Bahrain, where Iranian missiles and drones have hit nearby areas.
“We take down the drones that threaten our bases, our people or our allies,” Healey told ‘Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips’ on Sky. ‘We stepped up next to the Americans. We have increased our defensive forces in the Middle East. We operate those flights.”
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British Defense Secretary John Healey insisted that Britain had “no part” in the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. (Peter Nicholls/Pool via Reuters)
Healey also insisted that Britain had “no role” in the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and insisted that all British actions were defensive. “All our actions are about defending British interests and defending British allies,” he said.
Asked whether Britain would join the US in an offensive move, Healey said: “I’m not going to speculate,” Healey said. Sky News.
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Downing Street also confirmed on February 28 that Starmer and President Donald Trump had spoken by phone about the “situation in the Middle East”, the BBC reported.
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