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UK will allow US to use bases to strike Iranian missile sites, says Starmer (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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The UK has agreed to a US request to use British military bases for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

But the prime minister said the UK had learned lessons from the "mistakes of Iraq", and was not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and "will not join offensive action now".

Sir Keir said the basis of the decision to accept the US request was the "collective self-defence" of allies and protecting British lives, accusing Iran of pursuing a "scorched-earth strategy".

The BBC understands the US is likely to use RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for strikes on Iranian missile sites.

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[–] [S] 7 points 8 months ago* (5 children)

How much higher can it go right now?

Well, the UK could go to war with Iran, for example.

Iran has the military might of a small micronation and appears to be spazzing out right now hitting bases all over the place pissing everyone in the region off

I can't say that I really agree with your assessment, IMO, Iran is actually a pretty capable military power (#13 in the world, according to GlobalMilitary.net), with two pretty powerful military forces (the IRGC and the Iranian military itself) and it has been penetrating the Iron Dome reliably. They've been pretty rationally targeting primarily US military bases across the GCC states, which historically have been at odds with Iran due to geopolitical and religious issues anyways - the attacks are very clearly deliberate and aimed to put pressure on the US to back down.

Honestly, I think it's a pretty decent strategy, better than I could have come up with, for sure. It's hard to say how successful it will be, obviously I don't know the full capabilities of any of the countries involved or how much pressure is on them logistically and economically speaking, but due to the nature of how Iran's military forces are structured, I honestly don't doubt they can go on lobbing bombs around the Gulf for at least a few weeks. There will be a lot of pressure on President Trump to cool the hostilities due to the conflict impacting trade in the region, particularly fossil fuel industries.

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  • [–] -2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    im absolutely certain they could keep lobbing bombs around, im just not sure how long they can keep doing it before they sufficiently get their heads kicked in after the EU decides enough is enough

    https://aussie.zone/post/30190047

    SA already unhappy

    https://aussie.zone/post/30172766

    and Qatar too

    https://aussie.zone/post/30131384

    Not sure Dubai is thrilled its airport has been hit nor how much money they’re losing with airports shut

    but on top of this say UK goes to war with Iran? how does this impact you? obviously iran won’t be invading the UK any time soon

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

    Not sure Dubai is thrilled its airport has been hit nor how much money they’re losing with airports shut

    Right - exactly. Iran is intentionally fucking up the bag for GCC states and hitting as many US-aligned military bases as possible, because that's how they exert maximum pressure on the imperial core to back down. Making continued profits is more important to everyone in the region than fucking up Iran, with only Israel as the sole exception. The question is, how far will it go before the pressure on Trump becomes too much for him to continue the war.

    I think it's quite unlikely that we'll see anything like the Gulf War again - there's just no appetite for it. Nobody but Israel really has very much to gain from this conflict.

    but on top of this say UK goes to war with Iran? how does this impact you?

    Young people from my country will die. The more the war escalates, the greater the risk of ongoing terror attacks for decades, plus another refugee crisis in Europe. If Iran does get their head kicked in as you put it, that'll lead to the absolute worst outcome in that regard, basically this is how you get another ISIS, but even worse.

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  • [–] -3 points 8 months ago*

    Making continued profits is more important to everyone in the region than fucking up Iran, with only Israel as the sole exception. The question is, how far will it go before the pressure on Trump becomes too much for him to continue the war.

    Wha? Where are you seeing this?

    This is what I'm seeing, nothing against the US, the gulf states are pissed at Iran for spazzing out

    UAE Condemns in Strongest Terms Iran’s Blatant Missile Attacks Targeting the Country and Brotherly Nations

    https://www.mofa.gov.ae/MediaHub/News/2026/2/28/UAE-Iran

    UAE Announces Closure of Embassy in Tehran and Withdrawal of Ambassador and Diplomatic Mission, Condemns Iranian Missile Attacks

    https://www.mofa.gov.ae/en/MediaHub/News/2026/3/1/UAE-iran

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