I’m surprised, as usually the British tend to follow the United States government in whatever asinine request is made of them:
Britain has rebuffed US pleas to use military bases in the UK to support the build-up of forces in the Gulf, citing secret legal advice which states that any pre-emptive strike on Iran could be in breach of international law.
The Guardian has been told that US diplomats have also lobbied for the use of British bases in Cyprus, and for permission to fly from US bases on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are British territories.
The US approaches are part of contingency planning over the nuclear standoff with Tehran, but British ministers have so far reacted coolly. They have pointed US officials to legal advice drafted by the attorney general’s office which has been circulated to Downing Street, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence.
This makes clear that Iran, which has consistently denied it has plans to develop a nuclear weapon, does not currently represent “a clear and present threat”. Providing assistance to forces that could be involved in a pre-emptive strike would be a clear breach of international law, it states.
“The UK would be in breach of international law if it facilitated what amounted to a pre-emptive strike on Iran,” said a senior Whitehall source. “It is explicit. The government has been using this to push back against the Americans.”
The whole issue of a war with a nuclear Iran is ludicrous to begin with. Why would Britain want to get involved in a conflict between the United States, Iran, and Israel? If Iran goes down, it’s oil shipments from the Gulf would suffer radically and Europe would be plunged in a deep economic Depression the likes of which haven’t been seen in generations. The oil that flows out from the Middle East through the Persian Gulf flows to Europe, China, and, to a lesser extent, the United States. An already weakened West would be devastated by the fallout from a conflict that begins in Iran and would surely spread across the Middle East. It’s a conflict we don’t need to get involved in, and Britain is wise for declining to mingle their military with a potentially ruinous war.
Patriotism, Inc. 