After the US/Israeli unprovoked attack on Iran on February 28, the anti-war movement immediately launched emergency protests across the country in all the major cities of Britain condemning the attack. Hundreds gathered outside Parliament on the evening of February 28 as well as emergency protests over the following days including Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle and Cardiff opposing the US-Israel strikes on Iran.

Central to these protests has been the condemnation of Britain's support for yet another illegal war. The British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced on Sunday and then on Monday in Parliament that he had accepted a US request to use British military bases at home and abroad for "limited" and "defensive purposes" to strike Iranian "storage depots or at their launchers" [1]. At the rallies, speaker after speaker condemned Starmer for announcing that he was allowing the US to use British bases in Britain, the Middle East and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to attack Iran by claiming that this was for "defensive purposes" for Britain. How can taking part in an illegal war of aggression against Iran be "defensive"? We must "protest this madness" and demand that "our government takes no part whatsoever in and condemns the catastrophic actions of the US and Israel against Iran". This was the theme of the speeches.

The "launchers and missile depots" which Iran is using are for the purpose of the life and death struggle that Iran is waging to defend itself and its sovereignty against the barbaric bombing and assassination of its people, its elected government and the religious leaders of the Islamic Republic. In fact, by such a move, Britain is once again joining in these continued war crimes of the US and Israel, and now with this announcement is launching bombing attacks on Iran, killing its people and their leadership and causing massive destruction. The claim that Britain is distinguishing between "defensive" and "offensive" military action is a fraud, as everyone can see.

On Monday, Starmer went on to try and claim to Parliament: "We have learned from the mistakes of the past. We were not involved in the initial strikes, and we will not join offensive US strikes. But in the face of Iran's dangerous escalation, we will defend British nationals and support the collective self-defence of our allies. That is our duty to the British people." Not only is supporting this attack on a sovereign nation not defending British nationals in the region but it is putting them in serious harm alongside the Iranian people and people of the region by supporting the US/Israeli unprovoked attack on Iran. In fact, no lessons have been learnt by the government, or the cartel party system at Westminster. They have continued their support for illegal interventions and wars. Neither can anyone with any knowledge of the facts, or logic, dismiss Britain's involvement in the US/Israeli initial strikes on Iran which Starmer denied. Over the last two years Britain has given its full logistic and weapons support to Israel's genocide against the Palestinians. This is further proven with the unconscionable, outrageous and vindictive claim that with the sudden US/Israeli attack on Iran during the ongoing negotiations between US and Iran that the war was seen by Starmer as due to "Iran's dangerous escalation".

Any opposition of the cartel party system to Starmer's oral statement in Parliament was minimal and mainly confined to whether the Prime Minister would "commit to a vote in this House on any UK involvement in this war". To which Starmer replied negatively to one MP, Dr Ellie Chowns, North Herefordshire, Greens, saying that "we are not at war, and we are not getting involved in offensive action that the US and Israel are taking. We have published a summary of the legal advice in relation to the decision that we took last night. That is in accordance with practice. It is not practice to publish legal advice or summaries in relation to defensive action." In other words, the system of police powers exercised by the executive, which in no way reflects the will of the electorate, brooks no involvement in their powers to wage war (as long as it is supposed to "defend" British citizens, and perhaps Britain's "allies", and perhaps a number of other fraudulent categories to cover over aggression).

The independent MP Jeremy Corbyn also asked the Prime Minister a question saying; "Are we - this country - sharing information with the US to further its war aims against Iran? Could we not instead adopt a stance of trying to bring about an immediate ceasefire to prevent further dreadful loss of life across every country in the whole region and the danger of this escalating into a semi-global conflict?" [2] In his reply Starmer again did not answer the question. He tried to claim that "the uses of the bases are for the collective self-defence of our allies" (of which he includes Israel and the US that has bases all over the Middle East - Ed.), whilst he also claimed "that they were not using Cyprus for this purpose". This is the base of Akrotiri in Cyprus that Britain has already used to supply weapons to Israel and spy flights over Gaza to support Israel's genocide against the Palestinians and the Anglo-US bombing of Yemen.

Zarah Sultana, Your Party MP for Coventry South, said: "US congressional staff were told on Sunday that Iran was not planning to strike American forces or bases unless Israel attacked Iran first. In other words, there was no intelligence indicating an imminent threat. Yet we have already seen 'pre-emptive' strikes attacking a girls' school, killing over 100 children. This has been condemned by UNESCO as a grave violation of humanitarian law, yet the Prime Minister did not bother to mention it. Continuing such actions is unlawful, and allowing them to take place from UK bases is unlawful, so I ask the Prime Minister: is the genocide of the Palestinian people not enough for this Labour Government? Is he proud to be another Labour Prime Minister obediently following Washington into yet another illegal war in the Middle East, making us all less safe? Finally, how much does he enjoy being Donald Trump's poodle?" To which Starmer became even more rattled, saying only, "I have set out the decisions I made over the weekend and the reasons for them...."

HMS Dragon a Type 45 destroyer

On Thursday, March 5, Starmer also held a press conference [3] where he claimed that Britain was providing "calm, level-headed leadership". This "leadership" revealed itself as Britain's frantic military preparations "to defend our interests sending, fighter jets, defence missiles and drones to Cyprus". He then said that on Saturday, February 28, "we immediately put those jets into the sky flying over Cyprus and the wider region" to "protect our people and our allies" and "shooting down drones" and "responding to requests". He said that Britain was now sending helicopters to Cyprus and HMS Dragon to the Mediterranean, and that "the Defence Secretary is on the ground in Cyprus right now co-ordinating our work".

As Workers' Weekly reported earlier on February 7: "As we write, the US warmonger Trump continues the dangerous US war escalation with military build-up in the Middle East threatening Iran....This is the reality of the crimes against peace by Trump and his allies. It is in fact now support for Trump's lashing out with even more extreme violence, destruction and obliteration of anything which stands in his way" [4]. At that time, when Starmer was in China, he emphasised the nuclear pretext to justify Trump's meetings with Netanyahu and their military build-up for this second attack on Iran since June 12 last year. This can be compared with how Tony Blair had used "weapons of mass destruction" as a pretext for the Anglo-US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

However, Starmer, when asked this week by the BBC in a press conference whether the government had properly prepared for dealing with a crisis of thousands of British citizens stranded in the Middle East, only admitted they were preparing with Britain's own military build-up. He said in answer that they were "pre-deploying to the region particularly in January, February and that they sent fighter jets, missiles and advanced radar to Cyprus in the course of 8 or so weeks and that we did that in conjunction with the US and our allies [Israel - Ed.]."

What is so noticeable is that in none of the Prime Minister's statements this week has he opposed the US/Israeli illegal attack on Iran. He has only tried to make the claim that "they did not join the initial strike". Yet to claim that British fighter jets were immediately in the sky shooting down Iranian drones rings really even more hollow. Now Starmer is agreeing that the US can use British bases to attack Iran. At no time has he distanced the government from the attack on the sovereignty of Iran and its government and people, or the atrocities of the US and Israel in Iran. He has made Britain complicit in these crimes against humanity.

The anti-war movement's demands are just. It demands that the government end all support for the war on Iran. It demands that Britain support Iran in exercising its right to self-defence against all those complicit in this attack on their sovereignty, and demands that the US and Israel cease their attacks on Iran and end their genocide against the Palestinian people.

Hands Off Iran!

Notes
1. Hansard - Middle East Volume 781: debated on Monday 2 March 2026
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-03-02/debates/C3BE6001-08B4-4DF8-8193-A4BFF0C57E9B/MiddleEast
2. On March 4, The Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn tabled a Presentation Bill on titled The Military Action (Parliamentary Approval) Bill. The bill would require MPs to exercise stronger oversight over how foreign states use UK military bases.
3. Watch live: Keir Starmer's press conference on the situation in the Middle East - March 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4oxTmy_Lrc
4. Hands Off Iran! Hands Off the Middle East! Free Palestine! - Workers' Weekly February 7, 2026
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-26/ww26-03/ww26-03-01.htm

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