By Richard Wheeler and Kate Whannel, political reporters
The UK has agreed to allow the US to use British bases to launch strikes on Iranian sites that are targeting the Strait of Hormuz.
Previously Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had permitted US forces to use UK bases only for defensive operations intended to prevent Iran firing missiles that threatened British interests or lives. Downing Street said ministers had approved expanding the scope of targets to help protect ships in the vital oil shipping channel, while maintaining the action under the legal basis of “collective self-defence”.
US President Donald Trump said the UK “should have acted a lot faster”, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Sir Keir of “putting British lives in danger”.
US media reported that Iran fired two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, the joint US–UK base in the Chagos Islands, but neither struck the base. One missile reportedly failed in flight and the other was intercepted by a US warship, according to unnamed US officials; the timing of the launches was unclear and the US military declined to comment.
Downing Street said the UK would not be directly involved in US strikes and that “the principles behind the UK’s approach to the conflict remain the same”. The bases named as being used by the US are RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia.
Political reaction was swift. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called the decision the “mother of all U-turns”. Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller said the move showed the UK was “being drawn further and further down Trump’s slippery slope” and urged Sir Keir to allow Parliament to vote on the terms of the agreement. Green Party leader Zack Polanski described it as “another worrying escalation” and said MPs “must be given a vote on our involvement”.
Mr Trump, who earlier called Nato allies “cowards” for not offering warships to help reopen the shipping channel, told reporters he was “surprised” by the UK’s delayed response and said reopening the strait would be a “simple” military task with “little risk”.
UK military planners have joined US Central Command to explore options for escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the threat of Iranian attacks in retaliation for a US and Israeli bombing campaign. Before the war, about 138 ships passed through the strait each day, carrying roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, the Joint Maritime Information Centre says.
A Downing Street spokesperson said ministers agreed that Iran’s “reckless strikes, including on Red Ensign vessels and those of our close allies and Gulf partners, risked pushing the region further into crisis and worsening the economic impact being felt in the UK and around the world.” The spokesperson added: “They confirmed that the agreement for the US to use UK bases in the collective self-defence of the region includes US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Ministers said they wanted “urgent de-escalation and a swift resolution to the war”.
In a call with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Iran’s Abbas Araghchi criticised what he described as the UK’s “negative and biased” approach and demanded it stop cooperating with the US. The Foreign Office said Cooper had condemned Iran’s “reckless attacks” and the “disruption and closure of the Strait of Hormuz” and had called for “an immediate comprehensive moratorium on all attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations”.
Araghchi later wrote on X: “Ignoring his own people, Mr Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self-defence.”
