Starmer defends response to Iran crisis after criticism from Trump and Tories

Sir Keir Starmer said the crisis in the Middle East required a “cool head” as he defended his response to the situation.

The Prime Minister has come under fire from US President Donald Trump over his initial refusal to allow British bases to be used in the attack on Iran, while the Government has been criticised for failing to protect RAF Akrotiri from a drone attack.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir insisted he was focused on protecting British lives and helping to get people stranded in the Middle East back home.

And he said a range of military assets including F-35 jets were already in the region.

Sir Keir said: “This Government will be resolute in our focus, protecting British lives, bringing our people home, and safeguarding our national interest.”

He told MPs “the whole country is worried about the potential for escalation” in the Middle East, and “we need to act, therefore, with clarity, with purpose, and with a cool head”.

The UK’s airbases, including Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, were initially denied to the US for their strikes against the Iranian regime.

Mr Trump said on Tuesday he was “not happy with the UK” over the extent of its support and that “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.

In the Commons, Sir Keir said: “What I was not prepared to do on Saturday was for the UK to join a war unless I was satisfied there was a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan. That remains my position.”

In response to Iran’s retaliatory actions Sir Keir has given the US permission to use British bases for the limited purpose of attacking missile launchers and infrastructure, but RAF jets have not been involved.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked why the RAF had not taken “offensive action” to destroy Iranian missile sites after British bases in Bahrain and Cyprus had been attacked.

Sir Keir told her: “The protection of UK nationals is our number one priority. We’re taking action to reduce the threat with planes in the sky in the region intercepting incoming strikes, deploying more capability to Cyprus, and allowing US planes to use UK bases to take out Iran’s capability to strike.”

Air defence destroyer HMS Dragon will be sent to the eastern Mediterranean to help protect Cyprus, but the Type 45 warship is not expected to sail until next week.

Challenged over the US-UK special relationship, Sir Keir said letting the US use UK bases and British jets shooting down drones in the Middle East “is the special relationship in action” while “hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not” after the US leader’s personal attack on him.