Ministers have made clear that the UK played no part in the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Flanked by key officials, US President Donald Trump told the press that that the strikes were a “spectacular military success”.
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” he added.
Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, appeared to express favour at the outcome of the strikes. He posted on X: “Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat.”
He also urged Iran “to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”
However, British ministers were quick to point out that the UK had no involvement in the American attack on Iran. Before the attack, there was speculation that the US could use their airbase in Diego Garcia, in the British-owned Chagos Islands.
“The UK did not participate in these strikes”, said David Lammy, the foreign secretary, on social media.
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, indicated that the UK had been given prior notice of the attacks by the Americans.
“I can’t tell you exactly when were did know, but we were informed, as you might expect, by a key ally.”
The US B-2 stealth bombers set out on their mission from an airbase near Kansas City, Missouri in an operation that reportedly took 37 hours and involved several inflight refuellings, according to the New York Times.
There has been speculation about how supportive the UK would be to the US in the event of a strike against Iran. Last week, it was reported that Lord Hermer, the attorney general, was urging the UK to play a minimal role amid fears that direct UK involvement “could be illegal”.
The Times previously reported that any strike from Diego Garcia on Iranian facilities would require British approval, because the base is located in sovereign British territory.
Reynolds told Sky News that “no requests were made” by the US to use British facilities and assets to help carry out the attacks.
Asked if the UK would back future US attacks, Reynolds said that “It is difficult to comment on hypotheticals.”
He added: “I would say first of all that we have moved British military assets to the region. We will take all actions necessary to defend our own interests – our own people – and of course that of key allies if they are under threat.”
However, the business secretary said he was “very” concerned about the risk of Iranian backed terrorism in the UK.
“This is not a hypothetical. There is not a week that goes by without some sort of Iranian cyber-attack on a key part of UK critical national infrastructure. There is Iranian activity on the streets of the UK which is wholly unacceptable”, and pointed to the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (Firs), introduced in March, requiring British representatives of the Iranian state must now register with the government.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel described the US attacks on Natanz, Fordow and Isafan as “absolutely essential.”
“Iran coming to the negotiating table was not happening in any constructive way. We had the IAEA report disclosing the extent to which Iran’s capabilities on nuclear were just increasing and they went beyond civilian capabilities”, she told Sky News.
She went on to tell Trevor Phillips that she considered Iran to be a “terrorist state”.
“They sponsor proxies. They harm us for a start; they harm the United Kingdom and our interests. They chant death to America and their objective, which has always been to eliminate the state of Israel, which is not acceptable.”
Patel also sounded the alarm at the levels of the threat posed by Iran to British citizens and assets.
“We have state-sponsored activism and terrorism in our own country. We saw an Iranian spy involved in our base in Cyprus yesterday”, she said, commenting on reports that an operative linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had been surveying RAF Akrotiri, used by British forces and is home to Typhoon fighter jets, as well as Andreas Papandreou air base, which is occasionally used by the US air force.
In an interview with the JC in March, the former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove said he was baffled as to why successive governments hadn’t proscribed the IRGC.
“I just don't get why we haven't done so. It is the agency through which Iran has conducted what I would call ‘arm’s length warfare’. The Quds Force is part of the IRGC, and they've made an absolute fundamental aspect of Iranian policy using this agency to destabilise and interfere in the affairs of other countries.”
He added: “I know the Foreign Office arguments for not banning the IRGC, but it should have been identified as a terrorist organisation a long time ago.”
