THE Prime Minister and his COBRA colleagues have set a new definition for hubris – should the UK join in if President Trump launches American armed forces against Iran in support of Israel? Why does Two-Tier think the US needs us? We have some decent fighter aircraft, but no airborne means of controlling them. We have a couple of operational destroyers that might, on a good day, shoot down a ballistic missile heading their way. And that’s it – unless this goes to strategic nuclear exchange.
The harsh truth is that adding British forces to a US operation degrades the operation because the UK is not a top-tier military power. Both Israel and the US are. Joining an action might add some moral support – but not much. Prime Minister Netanyahu has determined that his country faces an existential threat and is dealing with it. That’s a military necessity, not a caucus of world opinion.
President Trump sees Israel as a close ally and Iran as a cause of mayhem. If Israel needs his help it will get it. Those who cast President Trump as a warmonger should list the wars that he has got involved in (answer = zero to date). Those who don’t like his style should get over it. His previous administration delivered the Abraham Accords, possibly the only hope of Middle Eastern peace. They’re not much of a hope, but they’re better than the endless cycle of violence, particularly for the Palestinians.
Iran is not an ally of the UK. It hasn’t been since the Shah’s Peacock Kingdom violently became the murderous theocracy that it is today. Along the way the SAS has had to clear the Iranian Embassy and (allegedly) support its Israeli equivalent at Entebbe and elsewhere. Two Israeli Prime Ministers, Netanyahu and Barak, were members of Israel’s special forces and may well have trained with the SAS. There was guarded military goodwill.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. It’s the only liberal state in the Middle East and it has had close military, financial and technical links with the UK. Its secular values are the same as ours and we even share much of our establishment religion with it. Yet this government has placed sanctions on two Israeli cabinet ministers and expressed its horror at Israeli Defense Forces actions in Gaza, along with the French and Canadians. Net result? Israel now thinks we’ve sided with Hamas. Still, if it gets Two-Tier a few more Muslim votes what does he care?
What is the UK’s interest? No one has made the case for Iran becoming a nuclear power being good news for Britain. Former ambassador Richard Dalton may think that there is no justification for Israel’s actions, but he doesn’t live under their missile threat. David Lammy’s Foreign Office employees may not like Israel’s actions, but their job is to represent the UK’s long-term interest, not their own thoughts. A nuclear-equipped Iran is not in anyone’s interest.
Lammy and Starmer called for de-escalation. There’s only one way of dealing with an existential threat and that is to eliminate it by whatever means necessary. That is what Israel is doing. One may not like the collateral damage, civilian deaths or the violence – but that is what war looks like. Richard Dalton might not think Iran is on the brink of building nuclear weaponry, but where does he get his information? I doubt if Mossad is briefing him. President Trump, who is anything but a warmonger, was probably briefed and he didn’t demur at Israel’s proposed actions.
What this war has shown is the utter vacuity of this government with its cabinet of career politicians and intellectual welterweights. They serve the interests of no one but themselves and the government machine. The UK needs better, and the four-year wait for an election will do inestimable further damage to this country and its international standing. I would almost rather be facing Iranian missiles than watching the wholesale destruction of the United Kingdom by its own government.
A longer version of this article appeared on Views From My Cab on June 18, 2025, and is republished by kind permission.
