Downing Street today warned Donald Trump won’t be allowed to use British bases to launch attacks on Iran‘s power plants and bridges.
The US President has vowed to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ if it does not end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
He has given Tehran a deadline of 8pm tonight to reopen the critical sea passage or suffer strikes on civilian infrastructure.
In an expletive-laden social media post, Mr Trump has said Tuesday will be ‘power plant day’ and ‘bridge day’ if Iran does not ‘open the f****’ Strait’.
He has followed it up with warnings that a ‘whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again’ without a deal.
Keir Starmer previously granted Mr Trump permission to use UK bases – including Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire – for ‘defensive’ strikes on Iranian missile sites.
But No10 on Tuesday signalled the Prime Minister won’t extend such permission for attacks on Iran’s infrastructure.
Such a stance could risk a fresh rift with the White House, with Mr Trump having repeatedly attacked Sir Keir in recent weeks for a lack of support during the conflict.
Downing Street warned Donald Trump won’t be allowed to use British bases to launch attacks on Iran’s power plants and bridges
The US President has vowed to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ if it does not end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, also claiming ‘a whole civilisation will die tonight’
Keir Starmer previously granted Mr Trump permission to use UK bases – including Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford – for ‘defensive’ strikes on Iranian missile sites
Asked if the UK will block the US from using British bases for strikes on Iran infrastructure, the PM’s spokesman told reporters he ‘won’t be providing a running commentary on our allies’ operations’.
But he added the Government’s position ‘hasn’t changed’, saying: ‘The agreement in place is for the US to use UK bases for the collective self-defence of the region, including US defensive operations to degrade missile sites and capabilities used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
‘The UK’s approach to the conflict remains the same. We remain committed to defending our people, our interests and our allies, acting in accordance with international law and not getting drawn into the wider conflict.’
Pressed on whether US attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure would constitutue a war crime, the PM’s spokesman replied: ‘As I said, not only comment on the running commentary on our allies’ operations.’
The Government has previously suggested Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure amounts to a war crime.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has written to the PM to urgently withdraw the access granted to US planes to use British bases.
He said: ‘President Trump’s explicit threats to target civilian infrastructure in Iran signal a clear intent to breach international law.
‘This places the UK Government in a perilous position; by continuing to grant the US access to our airbases, the PM risks making the UK an accomplice to war crimes.
‘The Liberal Democrats are calling for the immediate withdrawal of consent for the US to use British bases. We cannot allow British soil to be used as a platform for illegal military action.’
Senior Cabinet minister Wes Streeting also earlier signalled the Government won’t allow British bases to be used for US strikes on Iranian power plants or bridges.
The Health Secretary told LBC: ‘We’ve been very clear. We will allow the US to use our bases to defend British interests and our allies in acts of defence.
‘We are engaged in defensive action. Iran has attacked us and our allies where we have played no part in this war.
‘So we’ll defend ourselves, defend our interests, our people and our allies, but we will not support or facilitate offensive action.’
In a round of TV and radio interviews this morning, Mr Streeting also hit back at the US President over his handling of the Iran war as the Transatlantic ‘special relationship’ continued to fray.
The Health Secretary said the PM’s decision to keep Britain out of the conflict was being vindicated every day, after Mr Trump’s latest broadside at Sir Keir.
Mr Trump used a White House appearance on Monday, featuring a giant Easter Bunny, to compare Sir Keir to Neville Chamberlain, the former PM now mostly remembered for his policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
In recent weeks, the US President has repeatedly attacked the PM, the UK’s military and other NATO allies for refusing to help with the Iran conflict, with energy prices being sent sky high by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
It has led some critics, like Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick, to suggest Starmer is not ‘respected on the world stage’.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Mr Streeting said Sir Keir deserved ‘enormous credit’ for refusing to join the attack.
‘There has not been a single day that has passed in this war with Iran where I have not felt that the PM has been entirely vindicated for his judgement in keep Britain out of the war in Iran,’ he added.
He also said the US has to ‘justify it actions’ if, as Mr Trump has threatened, it targets Iranian civilian infrastructure – something experts say could constitute a war crime.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the PM’s decision to keep Britain out of the conflict was being ‘entirely vindicated’ every day
Mr Trump used a White House appearance on Monday, featuring a giant Easter Bunny, to compare Sir Keir to Neville Chamberlain
Discussing the Iran conflict, Mr Trump told reporters on Monday the UK had ‘a long way to go’.
Although it is unclear what he was referring to, he added: ‘We won’t want another Neville Chamberlain, do we agree? We don’t want Neville Chamberlain.’
Asked about this claim today, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: ‘The PM has addressed various comments a number of times and he’s been very clear this is not our war, we won’t be drawn into it.’
He also pointed reporters to the PM’s comments at Liaison Committee before Easter, when he suggested Trump was trying to ‘put pressure’ on him to change his stance on Iran.
The role of Mr Chamberlain in the lead up to and early part of the Second World War is debated by historians, with some criticising his appeasement of Hitler before a war than may have been inevitable.
Others however have said he bought the UK valuable time to build up its Armed Forces.
One of Chamberlain’s supporters at the time was Joseph Kennedy, the US ambassador to Britain and grandfather of Mr Trump’s health minister, Robert F Kennedy Junior.
His anti-war stance eventually saw him recalled by president Roosevelt in 1940.
Chamberlain, who was PM from 1937 to 1940, is mostly remembered for his policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany in the late 1930s
It comes as the King prepares to carry out a state visit as part of celebrations to mark 250 years since the US declared independence from Britain, despite calls from some politicians for the trip to be cancelled.
Sir Keir has said he will not ‘buckle under pressure’ or allow the UK to get ‘dragged into the war’, which has now entered its sixth week.
During Monday’s event, Mr Trump repeated his threat to bomb Iran’s civilian infrastructure if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He also claimed to have already achieved ‘regime change’ by killing Iran’s previous leaders, including the former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He said: ‘The people we are negotiating with now on behalf of Iran are much more reasonable.’
But some experts have claimed that removing the previous ayatollah has seen a more hardline group take charge in Tehran.