The foreign secretary has said the UK will continue to provide defensive support against “reckless Iranian threats” but insisted it would not be drawn into a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Yvette Cooper, pictured right, was speaking after it emerged Tehran had targeted the joint US-UK military base in the Chagos Islands, with reports of two ballistic missiles being fired at the island of Diego Garcia.
Supporting UK interests included taking defensive action against ballistic missile threats, she added.
Cooper said the UK recognised “Iran’s escalating threats to international shipping as well as their threats to our Gulf partners” and reiterated that it wanted to see a swift end to the conflict.
The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported on ballistic missiles being fired at Diego Garcia, citing unnamed US officials, but said that neither weapon reached its target.
One of the missiles reportedly failed in flight, while the other was intercepted by a US warship. The BBC understands the reports are accurate.
There are doubts whether Iran has missiles which are capable of reaching Diego Garcia, which is about 2,350 miles from Iran.
The BBC understands the missiles were fired by Iran sometime during the period late on Thursday night into Friday morning.
Initial information had been limited only to the fact the incident had happened before Friday afternoon, when ministers met in London to discuss the war and the UK agreed to let the US use British military bases to hit Iranian sites targeting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military has declined to comment on the incident.
The foreign secretary reiterated the UK government’s position in her interview on Saturday.
“As the prime minister has made clear we will provide defensive support against these reckless Iranian threats but we have not been – and we continue not to be – involved in offensive action,” she said.
“We will not be drawn into a wider conflict because we think we need to see as swift as possible resolution in the UK national interest but also to support regional stability.”
The airbase on Diego Garcia is strategically located, is capable of accommodating long-range bombers and has been used as a launchpad for operations in the Middle East for years.
Its use in US strikes on Iran has been limited as the UK government has only allowed British airbases to be used for strikes on sites targeting UK interests and allies in the region.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke to the Cypriot president on Saturday to reiterate that RAF Akrotiri would not be one of the bases used by the US to target Iranian missile sites.
Tehran launched several unmanned drones at the military base in Cyprus, one of which struck its runway causing “minimal” damage earlier this month.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said this week that the UK’s participation was “putting British lives in danger” and that Iran would “exercise its right to self-defence”.
Ah, remember the cry of weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was supposed to have and was ready to launch at London?
And does this have the same ring to it with a public call to arms? Very much seems similar. Iraqi WMD was a fairy story but it got us in. Fool me once, fool me twice, or what?
It’s a good question. But will we get a good answer or will we again just go to war in what might turn out to the Big One? But one thing for sure, things are going to change. War is one thing, but the economic and social impacts are even bigger.
And no I’m not talking about the tinky-winky benefit and service cuts that we currently obsess about.
Dulce est decorum et in pro patria mori.