To be or not to be (involved) — that is the question

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Is the UK involved in the US-Israeli attack on Iran – or is the UK *not* involved in the US-Israeli attack?

The answer (apologies to Shakespeare’s Hamlet) seems to be: depends upon who you ask?

For the rest of Europe, the position is clear.

Spain, under prime minister Pedro Sánchez, has aggressively and proactively made it clear US bases in Spain cannot be used. France’s president Emmanuel Macron has prevented French airspace from being used for overflights supplying US forces.

According to the British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, on Monday (30 March), the UK was “not going to be dragged into this war.”

The BBC, and much of the British press, has swallowed this line uncritically.

It doesn’t bear up to much scrutiny.

Dozens of US bombers have taken off from RAF Fairford military base (in south-west England, on the border of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire) for long-ranging bombing attacks by B1 and B52 planes on Iran.

The UK air base on the island of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, is also being used for US bombing raids.

On Tuesday, the UK defence secretary, John Healey, visited Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, and offered extra British troops, bringing the total deployed around the Gulf and Cyprus to 1,000 men and women.

Four additional UK jets will be sent to Qatar. Saudi Arabia will get a UK ‘Sky Sabre’ air defence missile system, plus teams to operate it. (Sky Sabre comprises radar and missile launchers.)

The UK’s Lightweight Multirole Missile launcher, a short-range air defence system, has already been deployed to Bahrain along with UK experts who will work to integrate the system into Bahraini defences.

The UK’s ground-based air defence missile system Rapid Sentry has arrived in Kuwait.

The question for the British public (let alone for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who decide what, who, and where to retaliate) is whether that tally really means the UK is not involved in the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

The official UK ministry of defence position is that US heavy bombers take off from RAF Fairford “for defensive missions to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities”. 

“The United States has started using British bases for specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region, which is putting British lives at risk. This is alongside the defensive action the UK is taking to protect British people across the region.”

On Thursday, London hosted a Zoom-diplomacy style meeting of some 40 foreign ministers, concentrating solely on reopening the Strait of Hormuz (which, remember, was not closed before Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Iran and assassinated the Ayatollah), under British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper.

Cooper was at pains to condemn Tehran’s “recklessness” at “hitting global economic security”. The conclusion of the meeting saw a commitment to … have another meeting of military planners on the subject next week.

So there you have it. The answer to the question of whether the UK is involved in the US-Israeli attack on Iran reminds me of the famous Bill Clinton quote in 1998, when giving grand jury testimony on his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

“It depends what the meaning of ‘is’ is”.