Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that British involvement in an attack on Iran by the United States could be illegal. Advice attributed to the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, reportedly says the UK would have to limit its participation to defending allies. An official said to have seen the peer’s legal advice told The Spectator: “The AG has concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies.”
It has been almost a week since Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, which responded with retaliatory attacks. Tel Aviv said Israel’s strikes were aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials insist the country’s nuclear programme is peaceful. Tensions have also ratcheted up between the US and Iran, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejecting US President Donald Trump’s call for surrender and warning any American military involvement will result in “irreparable damage” to the US.
After the conflict erupted, Sir Keir announced more RAF jets would be sent to the Middle East. It came after Iran threatened to target UK, French and US bases if the countries helped stop its strikes on Israel.
The PM convened a COBRA meeting of senior ministers on Wednesday (June 18) to give updates on ongoing diplomatic efforts and UK support for British nationals in the region.
Asked whether he would join Israel’s strikes, Mr Trump said yesterday: “I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Commenting on reports of Lord Hermer’s advice on Thursday, energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said the legal advice was for the Prime Minister.
She told Times Radio: “What I will say is we have a Prime Minister who is a lawyer and a human rights lawyer. He will obviously do everything that is in accordance with international law.
“No one wants an escalation. No one wants this to erupt into a major conflict in the region that is hugely destabilising for every country involved and for us, globally.
“So the most important role the Prime Minister can play, and is playing, is to be that cool, calm head, to urge all partners around the negotiating table and to find a diplomatic route out of this.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is set to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Washington to discuss the situation in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and the UK-US trade deal.
If the US decides to go ahead with strikes, it could seek to use the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, which Britain would reportedly need to sign off on.
Under the recently agreed deal to hand back the Chagos Islands, the UK leases the base from Mauritius while the US pays for its operating costs.
Sir Keir has so far played down the prospect of US intervention, telling reporters at the G7 that “nothing” he had heard from Mr Trump suggested Washington was poised to get involved.
When asked whether the Prime Minister was confident Mr Trump would not involve US forces in the conflict, a Number 10 spokesman on Wednesday said the UK’s position was still that “we want to de-escalate rather than escalate.”