British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seen in a still image from a video statement released on March 1, 2026. In the statement, Starmer said Britain was granting a U.S. request to use its bases to help prevent Iran from firing missiles across the Middle East. (Keir Starmer/X)
The United Kingdom will allow U.S. forces to use British military bases for defensive airstrikes against Iran as Middle East tensions escalate in the wake of joint American and Israeli attacks on the country over the weekend.
The decision stemmed from a U.S. request to use U.K. installations to help prevent Iran from firing missiles across the region, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a recorded video message released Sunday.
“Iran is pursuing a scorched earth strategy, so we are supporting the collective self-defense of our allies and our people in the region,” Starmer said.
The authorization covers actions for the “specific and limited defensive purpose” of destroying Iranian storage depots and launchers used to fire missiles, he said.
The U.S. is likely to use RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for strikes, the BBC reported.
As of Monday, six U.S. service members had been killed during the campaign known as Operation Epic Fury, according to the Pentagon.
Britain was not involved in the initial American and Israeli strikes Saturday and does not intend to join offensive operations, Starmer said.
The joint strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Washington has framed the action as a preemptive move aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and weakening or toppling the regime.
Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks against U.S. forces. Bases in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates faced retaliatory strikes, which also damaged civilian infrastructure including airports and hotels.
While initially calling for restraint and diplomacy, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, known as the E3, said Sunday that they were prepared to take “necessary and proportionate defensive measures” following what they described as indiscriminate Iranian missile attacks.
The leaders said they would work closely with the United States and regional partners to address the crisis.
In his message, Starmer sought to distance Britain from past U.S.-led wars.
“I want to be very clear: We all remember the mistakes of Iraq,” he said. “And we have learned those lessons.”
Those words were echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who on Monday spoke for the first time about the U.S. strikes, addressing concerns that America could be drawn into another protracted war in the Middle East.
“This is not Iraq,” Hegseth said. “This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better.”
