As the US and Israel launched a joint coordinated attack on Iran , United Kingdom on Saturday asserted that it had no role to play in these strikes but expressed its support to common strategic cause, saying the current regime under Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “utterly abhorrent” and cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
Interestingly, the US -Israel join military operation against Iran came shortly after Oman’s foreign minister Badr Al-busaidi, a key mediator in US–Iran talks, publicly disclosed that Tehran had agreed, during negotiations, to surrender its enriched uranium stockpiles and forswear the acquisition of nuclear weapons indefinitely.
Some of the first strikes were reported to have hit areas around the offices of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and US military bases in the region.
Israel said the operation has been planned for months with the US.
In a televised address, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “Earlier this morning, the United States and Israel struck targets in Iran. Iran has since launched indiscriminate strikes across the region.
“I know the British people and communities across our country will be deeply concerned about what this means for security and stability and for the fate of innocent people across the region – which for so many of us includes friends and family members,” Starmer said.
“So while the situation is evolving very quickly, I want to set out our response. The United Kingdom played no role in these strikes,” he said.
The British prime minister further added, “But we have long been clear – the regime in Iran is utterly abhorrent. They have murdered thousands of their own people, brutally crushed dissent, and sought to destabilise the region.”
Even in the United Kingdom, the Iranian regime poses a “direct threat to dissidents and the Jewish community”, Starmer said.
“Over the last year alone, they have backed more than 20 potentially lethal attacks on UK soil. So it’s clear – they must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. That remains the primary aim of the United Kingdom and our allies – including the US,” he added.
The British Prime Minister condemn Iran’s attacks on the UK’s “partners” across the region, saying many of which were not parties to this conflict.
“We extend our support and solidarity to them,” he said.
Starmer said that as part of United Kingdom’s commitments to the security of its “allies in the Middle East”, it recently took steps to strengthen its defensive capabilities in the region.
“Our forces are active and British planes are in the sky today as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests, and our allies – as Britain has done before, in line with international law,” Starmer said, adding, “We’ve stepped up protections for British bases and personnel to their highest level. We are also reaching out to UK nationals in the region and doing everything we can to support them.”
Starmer said that it is vital now that we prevent further escalation and return to a diplomatic process.
“We want to see peace and security, and the protection of civilian life. Iran can end this now. They should refrain from further strikes, give up their weapons programmes, and cease the appalling violence and repression against the Iranian people – who deserve the right to determine their own future, in line with our longstanding position,” he said.
That is the route to de-escalation and back to the negotiating table, he added.
The US and Israel launched the joint strike on Iran shortly after Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi, a key mediator in US–Iran talks, publicly disclosed that Tehran had agreed, during negotiations, to surrender its enriched uranium stockpiles and forswear the acquisition of nuclear weapons indefinitely.
“The disclosure appears to have been intended to strip Trump and his team of a nuclear pretext for war,” former Indian diplomat Brahma Chellaney said in a post on X
“Yet the subsequent opening strikes — aimed at decapitating Iran’s religious, political and military leadership and degrading its missile infrastructure — make clear that the U.S. and Israeli objective extends beyond nuclear nonproliferation to the coercive disarmament of Iran and the installation of a pliable regime in Tehran,” he added.
AS the Iran was struck by the US and Israel in the holy month of Ramadan, American President Donal Trump gave a call to Iranian to “seize control” of their “destiny” by rising up against the Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation since 1979.
The US military has for weeks amassed forces in the region even the talks were underway between the American and Iranian envoys talks in Switzerland and Oman to find a diplomatic solution.
“Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said on X.
“Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this…And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further,” he added.
Israel said the operation has been planned for months with the US.
