The British decision to allow US fighter jets to operate, according to British media, only applies to attacks carried out for preventive and "defensive" purposes to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz. According to Sky News, this could include attacks on missile installations.
Britain will still not be directly involved in the attacks, a Downing Street spokesperson emphasizes.
Iran's response is that Starmer, with his change of course, is "putting British lives at risk."
"An overwhelming majority of Britons do not want the country to participate in the war that Israel and the US have chosen," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, threatening that "Iran will act in self-defense."
When the Iran war began, Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not allow the US to use British bases at all. Later, Starmer gave the US permission to use British bases during defensive operations where British interests or lives were at stake during Iranian attacks.
Now Donald Trump says, regarding Friday's decision, that Starmer is late and "should have acted much faster."
I'm a little surprised, to be honest.
In early March, when Starmer refused to let the US use British bases, Trump said disparagingly of the prime minister:
This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with.
