While British planes are now in the sky to defend UK interests in the region, Starmer made it explicitly clear that such defensive activity is "in line with international law" - and that the UK wasn't involved in the American/Israeli attacks. In his televised statement, the prime minister was vehement in his condemnation of the "utterly abhorrent" Iranian regime, which has "murdered thousands of [its] own people, brutally crushed dissent and sought to destabilize the region", as well as posing "a direct threat" in the UK. He's always put the so-called special relationship at the very heart of his foreign policy - and doesn't want to risk antagonising Donald Trump (any more than he already has done recently, in refusing the use of British military bases and signing the Chagos deal with Mauritius).
Author: Amanda Akass
Published at: 2026-02-28 22:36:00
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