US and Israeli strikes against Iran not ‘legal in a way that the UK would recognise’
A former British national security adviser has warned that US and Israeli attacks on Iran are “not legal in the sense that the UK would recognize”.
Explosions were heard in Tehran on Saturday morning, following a coordinated “pre-emptive strike” by Iran that led to retaliatory strikes against Israel.
In an eight-minute speech published on Truth Social, President Donald Trump confirmed a “major combat operation” and said Iran would never have a nuclear weapon, adding: “This was mass terrorism, and we will not put up with it anymore.”
However, Britain’s former national security adviser, Lord Peter Ricketts, said Britain would not consider the attacks legal.
Keir Starmer and the UK government have yet to comment on the attacks, but the UK is understood to have refused to allow the US to use RAF bases for the attacks due to concerns about international law.
Lord Ricketts told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think any of this is legal in the sense that the UK would recognize it.
“In fact, there was no imminent threat to the United States. This is an action they chose to undertake or were driven into by the Israelis.”
Lord Ricketts added that the Israeli government had “pre-empted the risk of US-Iran negotiations reaching some kind of agreement on the nuclear programme”.
Britain and the US have been at loggerheads over Middle East policy over Sir Keir’s refusal to take part in Trump’s Gaza Peace Board, but former prime minister Sir Tony Blair has agreed to sit on it.
President Trump was also angry about Britain’s decision to recognize the state of Palestine, along with France and other allies.
But the row over the use of RAF bases in Cyprus to bomb Iran is also understood to have wider ramifications, with President Trump withdrawing his support for Sir Keir’s Chagos Islands deal.
Meanwhile, a senior Labor MP has warned that Britain must resist being drawn into a conflict in the Middle East.
Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that she did not think the US-Israeli attacks were legal.
He said: “As far as I know we are not involved. There is no British agreement to be involved and I think that is the right thing to do. I don’t think there is a legal basis for this action.”
He added: “They were not under any immediate threat and so it is difficult to see what the legal justification was.”
Asked whether Britain should resist being drawn into the conflict, Dame Emily said: “Certainly, unless we attack ourselves, which as I said, unfortunately this morning, we don’t know whether we will do that because there may be attacks by the Iranians on Western bases in the Arabian Gulf and so the situation may change.
“We just don’t know.”
