Does the UK government back US and Israeli strikes against Iranian regime or not?
Voters should be told whether ministers are in favour of US and Israeli strikes or view them as illegal and unjustified
Defence Secretary John Healey was correct when he said on Sunday that “few people” will mourn the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The 86-year-old’s murderous 37-year dictatorship ended when he was killed in a US-Israeli attack on Saturday that could lead to the downfall of his brutal regime.
Among his many atrocities, Khamenei was responsible for the executions of an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 civilian protesters on the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities just weeks ago.
Mr Healey was also correct in supporting one of the allies’ objectives - ensuring Iran is not able to develop nuclear weapons to aim at what Khamenei’s followers describe as “the Little Satan” in Israel and “the Great Satan” in the US. He was also right to condemn Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks across the Middle East.
But the Defence Secretary repeatedly refused to say whether the UK backed the US and Israeli strikes, or believed they were legal.
Instead, Mr Healey said “it is for the US to set out the legal basis of the action that it took”, while echoing French and German leaders in reiterating the need for all parties to “return to the negotiating table”.
Canadian and Australian leaders Mark Carney and Anthony Albanese - neither of whom tend to align with US President Donald Trump - apparently had no such qualms.
Instead, they said they supported the US “acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon” and continuing to threaten “international peace and security”.
Sir Keir Starmer and his government risk pleasing no one by refusing to either back or condemn the US and Israeli actions in Iran.
Should the UK have been “more proactive” in supporting the strikes, as Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel has said?
Or does Sir Keir share the view of Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who has branded the attacks “illegal and unjustified”?
Either way, voters have every right to know where their government stands.
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