UK PM Approves US Request To Use British Bases For Strikes On Iranian Missiles

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday his country has accepted a United States request to use British bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.

“The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region,” Starmer said in a video message on X.

In addition, Starmer said Britain did not participate in the joint US-Israel airstrikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday, adding that Britain would not join further waves of strikes.

Naija News gathered that Iran launched sustained retaliatory attacks across the region and its missiles struck airports and hotels where British citizens were staying.

“Our decision that the UK would not be involved with the strikes on Iran was deliberate, not least because we believe that the best way forward for the region and for the world is a negotiated settlement, one in which Iran agrees to give up any aspirations to develop a nuclear weapon. But Iran is striking British interests nonetheless, and putting British people at huge risk,” he said.

Britain’s partners in the Gulf asked the country to do more to defend them, Starmer said, adding that protecting British lives was his duty.

British fighter jets have already joined coordinated defensive operations and intercepted Iranian strikes, he said, but the only way to stop the threat was to destroy the missiles at their source in storage depots or launchers.

Starmer said accepting the US request was based on the “collective self-defence of long-standing friends and allies and protecting British lives” in accordance with international law.