The UK has agreed to let US forces operate from British bases to carry out strikes on Iranian targets that have been threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Until now, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had authorised use of UK facilities by US personnel only for defensive actions to stop missiles that posed a direct threat to British lives or interests. Downing Street said ministers approved a broader scope to help protect commercial shipping in the vital oil transit route, while retaining the legal justification of “collective self-defence.”
President Donald Trump criticised the timing of the decision, saying the UK “should have acted a lot faster,” while Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused Sir Keir of “putting British lives in danger.”
US officials, speaking to US media, said Iran launched two ballistic missiles at the Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands; neither struck the facility. One reportedly failed in flight and the other was intercepted by a US warship, according to unnamed sources. The timing of those launches was not clear and the US military declined to comment.
Downing Street said the UK would not take a direct role in US strikes and that “the principles behind the UK’s approach to the conflict remain the same.” The bases identified as available to the US are RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and the joint US–UK facility on Diego Garcia.
The decision drew swift political reaction. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described it as the “mother of all U-turns.” Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller warned the move risked drawing the UK “further and further down Trump’s slippery slope” and urged Sir Keir to seek parliamentary approval. Green Party leader Zack Polanski called it “another worrying escalation” and said MPs must be given a vote on the UK’s involvement.
Mr Trump, who had earlier criticised NATO allies as “cowards” for not contributing warships to help reopen the shipping lane, said he was “surprised” by the UK’s delay and described reopening the strait as a “simple” military task with “little risk.”
UK military planners are working with US Central Command to explore options for escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by threats of Iranian attacks in retaliation for a US and Israeli bombing campaign. Before the conflict, roughly 138 vessels passed through the strait each day, carrying about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre.
A Downing Street spokesperson said ministers agreed 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 the agreement to allow US use of UK bases for collective self-defence “includes US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Ministers said they want “urgent de-escalation and a swift resolution to the war.”
In a phone call with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Abbas Araghchi criticised what he called the UK’s “negative and biased” stance and demanded it stop cooperating with the US. The Foreign Office said Cooper condemned Iran’s “reckless attacks” and the “disruption and closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” and called for “an immediate comprehensive moratorium on all attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.”
Araghchi later posted on X that “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.”