UK, France and Germany now open to striking Iran

The Europeans said they were angered by Tehran’s “indiscriminate” attacks threatening their citizens and allies.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The United Kingdom, France and Germany are now open to striking Iran in what they called a “defensive” move, they announced in a joint statement Sunday night.

Saying they were “appalled” by Iran’s “indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks” on countries not involved in the initial US and Israeli operations against Iran, they accused the Islamic Republic of “threatening our service personnel and our civilians across the region.”

According to British officials, two Iranian ballistic missiles were fired Sunday toward Cyprus, where British forces are stationed, but fell into the sea.

On Saturday, Iran struck a military base in Bahrain in an attack that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said came close to hitting UK personnel.

Additional reported strikes included an Iranian airstrike on a German army camp in Jordan and drone attacks on a French naval facility in Abu Dhabi, causing damage but no casualties.

The three European powers demanded that Iran halt its “reckless” attacks, warning that they would defend their interests and could join the United States in taking “necessary and proportionate defensive action” to eliminate missile and drone launch capabilities at their source.

In a separate video statement posted on X, Starmer said that Britain had agreed to a US request to use British bases for the “specific and limited defensive purpose” of attacking Iranian missiles if they formed an imminent threat in their launchers and even in their storage sites.

This marked a sharp turnaround from Starmer’s initial position to keep Britain out of the war and refuse to allow American aircraft to operate from British facilities in connection with the conflict – a decision that had angered President Donald Trump.

Citing Tehran’s airstrikes on hotels and airports in Arab countries that had put British citizens at risk, he made it clear that his reversal was prompted by the fact that 200,000 UK civilians in the Middle East were under threat from Iran’s increasingly dangerous “approach,” and it was his duty to protect them.

He emphasized that Britain’s role would remain limited and would not extend to broader bombing campaigns inside Iran.

The two British air bases under discussion are the RAF base in Gloucestershire and the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

Saudi Arabia is another US ally that reportedly signaled readiness Sunday to join the fight against Iran.

According to CNN, angered by several “cowardly” airstrikes on his country, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized the Saudi military to respond forcefully if they are attacked again.

Other Gulf states, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which Iran has hit while ostensibly aiming for American bases on their soil, have also said that they reserve the right to defend themselves and counter-attack in the future.

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