A US bomber landed at an RAF base in Britain after Washington warned that attacks on Iran would “increase dramatically”.
The 146-foot B-1 Lancer, capable of carrying 24 cruise missiles, arrived at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Friday afternoon after Keir Starmer granted permission for US “defensive” action against Iranian missile sites from UK bases.
Armed forces chief Richard Knighton said he expected the US to launch missions from the Gloucestershire base “in the coming days”. The prime minister agreed Sunday to allow the United States to strike Iran defensively from Fairford and Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
The landing comes shortly after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Thursday that strikes were “about to increase dramatically,” referring to “more fighter squadrons, more defensive capabilities and more frequent bombing raids.”
On Friday, Donald Trump demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender as Israeli warplanes bombed Tehran and Beirut and Iran launched another wave of retaliatory attacks against Israel and the Gulf countries.
Starmer defended his decision to block the initial offensive attacks by the United States and Israel over the weekend, saying he stood by his judgment and denying it had damaged the special relationship. The move prompted Trump to launch a personal attack on the prime minister, saying he was “not Winston Churchill.”
At a top-secret national security meeting last Friday, Starmer’s suggestion to allow the United States to use RAF bases to carry out defensive strikes was opposed by several cabinet ministers, including Ed Miliband, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood, according to the Spectator, in a report that was later picked up by several media outlets.
Starmer insisted that “all ministers” on the national security council had supported the UK’s position on the use of British bases, rejecting reports that he had faced opposition from the Miliband-led cabinet. The Guardian understands, however, that all options were discussed at Friday’s NSC meeting.
On Saturday morning, Sadiq Khan said Starmer was “right to resist pressure” from the United States to join the strikes against Iran, and sharply criticized the “war of choice” which he said was “being waged unilaterally without any international consensus or UN approval, nor any serious strategy about what comes next.”
Starmer had a call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, in which the prime minister said the UK was ready to help defend the country if necessary.
It comes after it faced some criticism from the Gulf states and Cyprus, where a drone evaded detection and attacked RAF Akrotiri, for not doing enough to protect regional allies and British citizens there from Iranian attacks.
The air defense destroyer HMS Dragon is not expected to sail into the eastern Mediterranean until next week, while France and Greece have already deployed military assets to defend Cyprus. One of the reasons it is taking some time to prepare the Type 45 destroyer is because it is being equipped to remain at sea for several months if necessary, rather than rushing into the eastern Mediterranean for a short period.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will renew her attack on the UK’s response to the war in a speech on Saturday, when she is expected to say that “the allies feel they can no longer trust us”.
Badenoch sparked a row over his suggestion that UK military aircraft had been “just hanging around” and not taking necessary action in the Middle East.
Former shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell told Times Radio that Badenoch had “nothing to apologize for” and had been pointing out that ministers were slow to offer support to allies in the region.
A second government charter flight carrying British citizens from Oman landed at Gatwick Airport on Saturday as efforts continue to help people trapped in the war zone.
The latest arrivals join around 6,500 Britons who have returned from the United Arab Emirates since widespread conflict in the region began.
