Starmer lets Trump use UK bases to strike Iran’s missile depots

Politico Europe · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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News Defense The U.K., France and Germany say they have agreed to work together with the U.S. and allies in the Middle East on potential “proportionate defensive action” against Iran. "The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source or the launchers that are used to fire [them]," Keir Starmer said. | WPA pool photo by Benjamin Cremel via Getty Images March 1, 2026 11:33 pm CET The U.K. will allow Washington to use British bases to destroy Iran's missiles and its ability to fire them at Britain's allies in the gulf, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Sunday night. "The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source in their storage depots or the launchers that are used to fire [them]," he said in a video posted on X. "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." The U.S. and Israel launched strikes Saturday on Iran that killed the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and hit dozens of targets in at least 18 of Iran's 31 provinces, killing and injuring hundreds. In retaliation, Iran fired missiles and drones at targets in at least nine countries in the region, including U.S. military bases in host countries. Starmer said he had authorized the U.S. to use British bases to "prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk and hitting countries that have not been involved." "We have at least 200,000 British citizens in the region," Starmer added. "Our armed forces, which are stationed across the region, are also being put at risk by Iran's actions," while "our partners in the gulf have asked us to do more to defend them." The decision will allow the U.S. to use Britain's bases at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands, and RAF Fairford in the U.K., for the purposes approved by Starmer, a person familiar with the discussions who was granted anonymity to talk about the sensitive topic told POLITICO. U.S. President Donald Trump named the two bases in February as sites the U.S. may need to use to "eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime." Britain had previously refused to let the U.S. use British bases to bomb Iran. A second person familiar with the discussions said Washington's fresh request to the U.K. was less broad than what the U.S. had previously asked for, and was now focused specifically on stopping Iran's retaliation against allies in the gulf. The U.K. government published a summary of legal advice on Sunday night which insisted the action "does not signal the U.K. having any wider involvement in the broader ongoing conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran." In a joint statement earlier Sunday evening, Germany, France and the United Kingdom had opened the door to "enabling" military action against Iran alongside the U.S. and "allies in the region." In a statement, the leaders of the so-called E3, the three largest European economies, said: “We will take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region, potentially through enabling necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran’s capability to fire missiles and drones at their source.” The communiqué called on Iran to immediately stop its attacks on Western-allied countries and military bases in the Middle East. British, German and French troops have all been put at risk by Iranian counterattacks against primarily U.S. and Israeli targets. The E3 statement stopped short, for now, of announcing the countries will join in American and Israeli strikes on Tehran and sites across Iran. "We are not joining these strikes but will continue with our defensive actions," Starmer said. "We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons. We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran, and we will not join offensive action now. But Iran is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy, so we are supporting the collective self-defense of our allies and our people in the region." Following several initial waves of U.S. and Israeli missile and drone attacks on Iran on Saturday, European capitals had scrambled to respond, with some capitals, like Paris, admitting they hadn't even been looped in by Washington ahead of the attacks. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday declined to criticize U.S. President Donald Trump over the strikes, saying Europe needed Washington's support to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and that Brussels had itself ultimately failed to contain Tehran through diplomacy. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, had previously lambasted the U.K., France and Germany for not supporting the U.S. strikes more vocally. “You collectively are the ones that are wrong by refusing to come to the Iranian people’s aid,” he wrote on X. The three countries said they had now agreed to work together with the U.S. and allies in the Middle East “on this matter.” "E3 leaders are appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched by Iran against countries in the region, including those who were not involved in initial US and Israeli military operations," the statement said. "Iran’s reckless attacks have targeted our close allies and are threatening our service personnel and our civilians across the region."