UK agreed on Friday to allow the United States to use British military bases to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as the US–Israel–Iran war escalates.
The decision was taken at a meeting of British ministers on Friday to discuss the situation in the war involving the U.S. and Israel against Iran, according to a Downing Street statement.
The war is escalating, and Europe is already feeling the repercussions in its economy. Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump asked NATO allies to intervene in the war with Iran in order to clear the blockade of the strait, which is crucial for the transportation of oil and goods to the West.
“They confirmed that the agreement for the U.S. to use UK bases in the collective self-defense of the region includes U.S. defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said.
The UK had previously announced that U.S. forces could use the bases only for defensive operations to prevent Iran from firing missiles that put British interests or lives at risk.
Trump: ‘UK should have acted a lot faster’
U.S. President Donald Trump said the UK “should have acted a lot faster”, while Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed Sir Keir Starmer was “putting British lives in danger”, BBC reported.
According to the same report, Iran fired two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, but neither hit the joint U.S.-UK base on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, the Wall Street Journal and CNN reported overnight into Saturday, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
One missile reportedly failed in flight, while the other was intercepted by a U.S. warship. It is unclear when the missiles were fired, and the U.S. military declined to comment on the matter.
The UK will not be directly involved
The UK will still not be directly involved in the U.S. strikes in the Iran war, a statement from Downing Street said, adding that “the principles behind the UK’s approach to the conflict remain the same”.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the decision was the “mother of all U-turns” in a post on X, according to the BBC.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller said the government’s decision showed the UK was “being drawn further and further down Trump’s slippery slope”.
He called on the British Prime Minister to allow Parliament to vote on the terms of the agreement with the U.S. for the use of UK bases. Green Party leader Zack Polanski said it was “another worrying escalation” and said MPs “must be given a vote on our involvement”.
The UK bases used by the U.S. have been RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
