Why Britain continues to tread carefully in the Middle East war
The war in Iran is not as clean cut as is being made out by US President Donald Trump. Strikes by the US and Israel leave their allies in a difficult position when it comes to international law.
Britain and Europe can ill-afford to be seen as directly going against international law, especially with Ukraine still a warzone.
However, at the same time Britain would be foolish to antagonise the US and its tempestuous President.
That reality was reflected in the comments by the Prime Minister’s spokesperson, who insisted the UK remains a “staunch” ally of America.
This comes off the back of Trump claiming Sir Keir Stramer had “not been helpful” branding the transatlantic rift “very sad”, after the Government’s initial refusal to allow US forces to use Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.
Britain cannot afford to get embroiled in the war in Iran and as the Prime Minister says, you can’t achieve “regime change from the skies”. That is not to say that Britain should be completely hands off. It can still support US forces in the Middle East with legality and British interests in mind.
The immediate priority is ensuring the safety of Brits currently out in the Arabian Gulf. More than 100,000 have registered their presence with the Foreign Office amid evacuation planning.
The question that the US has to deal with in the coming days is where is the off-ramp in this conflict.
The damage that Iran’s disproportionate retaliation has done to US allies in the region shows the war cannot rumble on for a prolonged period of time.