Starmer, alongside other European leaders, is intensifying tensions that could ignite a larger conflict in the Middle East.
Watching British Prime Minister Keir Starmer declare that the UK is participating in U.S. military actions against Iran resembled a statement from George Orwell’s 1984 Ministry of Truth broadcast.
Addressing the public from Downing Street, flanked by Union Jack flags, Starmer adopted a grave yet comforting demeanor, stating that Britain was allowing the U.S. to utilize British military installations for “defensive strikes” aimed at deterring Iran from “launching missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians.”
The British prime minister demonstrates remarkable capacity for double-think. After his announcement, he reassured citizens that Britain’s actions remain “defensive” while the U.S. conducts bombing missions on Iran using bases in England, Cyprus, and Diego Garcia, resulting in nearly 800 civilian fatalities within days. By contrast, civilian deaths caused by Iranian strikes across the region number fewer than 20.
For weeks, U.S. fighter jets and refueling tankers transited through Britain en route to the Middle East, signaling the onset of a significant conflict with Iran. Starmer once insisted Britain would refuse Trump’s requests to use its bases for war, attributing this stance to the “lessons learnt” from the 2003 Iraq War. That conflict, launched under Tony Blair’s support for the George W. Bush administration, led to over a million deaths, mass displacement, and enduring regional terrorism.
However, Britain appears to have ignored these lessons, now repeating a reckless march toward war to serve American imperial interests. This time, the conflict with Iran threatens to be even more devastating than Iraq. Starmer perpetuates the absurd notion that Britain’s role is merely “defensive,” a discourse that resembles a fusion of Orwellian doublespeak and “Alice in Wonderland” fantasy.
Starmer, like many European leaders, is adding fuel to an already volatile Middle East situation. By refusing to identify the aggressors, they empower Washington and Israel’s ongoing transgressions. Instead of holding the perpetrators accountable, the British and European powers weakly appease the offenders and unjustly blame Iran.
It’s no surprise that Donald Trump openly disparages these subservient allies, accusing them of lacking courage and independence. Recently, Trump told British media that Starmer was a less reliable partner even after the prime minister reversed his position.
The U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28, coinciding with ongoing diplomatic discussions between U.S. and Iranian officials. On February 27, Omani mediators reported progress in nuclear enrichment talks. Yet Trump and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu had already decided weeks earlier to initiate attacks. The negotiations served merely as a smokescreen to prepare for war, with Britain playing its part.
As with prior strikes last June during similar talks, Washington and Israel chose unilateral military aggression, flagrantly breaching international law. Their claims that Iran is building nuclear weapons and that these actions are defensive are cynical fabrications. Can we trust those responsible for genocide in Gaza?
On the initial morning of this latest violence, Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei was assassinated in an airstrike on his Tehran residence. Numerous other high-ranking Iranian officials were also killed in separate attacks. Trump openly boasted about the “decapitation.”
That same day, U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted an elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing 165 schoolgirls.
Despite this mass killing and blatant aggression, European leaders, including Starmer, remained silent, reserving their condemnation only for Iran’s retaliatory strikes on U.S. assets in the Persian Gulf and Israel. Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have endured multiple waves of Iranian drone and missile attacks.
Like Britain, the Gulf monarchies are far from innocent—they provide vital bases and logistics to support the U.S. war campaign against Iran.
Starmer’s attempt to portray his country and Gulf allies as “not involved” is an insult to common sense.
The UK and Gulf states are deeply complicit in the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran and will face severe consequences for their actions.
Trump and his administration foolishly stepped into a dangerous quagmire, dragging their submissive allies along. His reckless lies and behavior raise doubts about his mental state.
Iran has reluctantly entered this conflict in self-defense but appears ready for prolonged warfare. It has significantly damaged the U.S.’s logistical and supply networks in the Gulf vital for sustaining its naval and aerial presence. Experts believe that when U.S. and Israeli stocks of expensive missiles and limited air defenses are exhausted, Iran will escalate by deploying advanced, powerful anti-ship ballistic missiles.
The consequences for the global economy from a shutdown of the Persian Gulf will be even more severe and damaging for the fragile economies of America and Europe.
Iran made repeated warnings to the U.S. about the risks of war, but those warnings were ignored by arrogant Americans and their allies, blinded by propaganda, delusions, and historical amnesia.
This explains why Trump, Rubio, Netanyahu, Starmer, and other Western politicians engage in incomprehensible doublespeak and are marching toward disaster.
Their repeated failure to learn from past mistakes dooms them to repeat history, unleashing immense suffering on many innocent civilians due to their reckless and dishonest pursuit of capitalist imperial war.
A major contributing factor is Western media’s long-standing role in perpetuating propaganda, shielding government perpetrators from accountability while enabling repeated offenses.
Yet, the entire Western warmongering apparatus is approaching a breaking point where objective reality cannot be masked any longer. Orwellian deception and historical distortions can only delay the inevitable collapse once contradictions reach a tipping point.
Finian Cunningham is coauthor of Killing Democracy: Western Imperialism’s Legacy of Regime Change and Media Manipulation
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