Sir Keir Starmer delivered a stinging rebuke of Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran, insisting the UK does “not believe in regime change from the skies”.
In a further sign of the straining relationship between Downing Street and the White House, the Prime Minister hit back against Washington, stating he would always act in Britain’s interests in the face of mounting US criticism.
Starmer on Monday defended his decision not to allow UK bases to be used by the US in the initial strikes against Iran in the face of attacks from Trump.
And the Prime Minister delivered a thinly veiled dig at the President’s decision to launch strikes against Iran, stating that there needs to be a “viable and thought through plan” for taking offensive action.
Destroyers out of action
It comes as military watchers queried why of the Royal Navy’s six state of the art Type 45 destroyers, which are designed to shoot down guided missiles, only one is available for deployment while Cyrpus is under attack.
HMS Dauntless is reported to by in maintenance in Portsmouth, HMS Dragon in dry dock after recently being on exercise, HMS Defender and HMS Diamond are undergoing refits in Portsmouth, while HMS Daring has just been handed back to the Royal Navy after eight years of refurbishment and is undergoing trials.
That leaves HMS Duncan which according to an article published on the Royal Navy website on Saturday – the day the US attack on Iran started – “battled an onslaught of drones, aircraft and missiles” in an exercise in Cardigan Bay.
The Prime Minister granted permission on Sunday for the US to use British bases to target Iran’s missile launchers and stores to help protect countries targeted by Tehran.
But the US president said he was “very disappointed” in Starmer for initially refusing to allow the use of the UK-US Diego Garcia base to target Iran.
Trump added it “took far too long” for the Prime Minister to change his mind.
Starmer accused of ‘pearl clutching’
His comments were then followed by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who accused Europe of “pearl clutching” and “humming and hawing” over whether to support military action against Iran.
In a Commons statement Starmer said: “President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest.”
In an interview with the Telegraph, Trump criticised the refusal to grant permission to use Diego Garcia for the initial wave of airstrikes against Iran’s military and leadership.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he said, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
And in response to Starmer’s later change in position, the President added: “It is useful. It took far too much time. Far too much time.”
Speaking to MPs, the Prime Minister said “that decision was deliberate” and “I stand by it”.
UK action must have a ‘viable thought-through plan’ – Starmer
He said that “we all remember the mistakes of Iraq” adding “any UK actions must always have a lawful basis and a viable thought-through plan”.
And in a clear criticism of the US approach he said: “This government does not believe in regime change from the skies.”
Westminster insiders said attempting to strike Iran’s ballistic missiles once they were in flight was like trying to knock an “arrow” out of the sky, but the US had been given permission to use British bases to go after the “archer” – the launch sites and storage silos.
Iran has hit targets across the Middle East, including in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and there are fears Tehran has the ability to keep up its retaliatory actions for a week.
Defence experts said the UK was already involved in the Iranian conflict despite Starmer’s refusal to join offensive action, with former defence minister Tobias Ellwood insisting “that line has already been crossed”.
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Ellwood told The i Paper that he was “amazed” that the UK had not already sent more air and naval capabilities to defend Cyprus, which has already come under attack by Iran and its proxies in the region.
The former Conservative defence minister also warned that the UK had limited capabilities in the region, adding that most British Type45 frigates, which have world leading sonar, are not operational.
“The US likes to have them in their carrier fleets because their sonar is so advanced,” Ellwood said. “What war does is expose the shortages that we have in our defence capabilities. We only have a short window of opportunity to catch up.”
The Royal Navy has been contacted for comment.
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