Across the Middle East, Britain’s role in conflict has often been indirect yet consequential. From the late imperial period to contemporary defence partnerships, the United Kingdom has supplied weapons, technology, finance and military personnel to regional allies engaged in wars and security operations. These relationships, justified in terms of strategic stability and alliance commitments, have at times intersected with credible allegations of human-rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. This series examines Britain’s involvement country by country, tracing military deployments, arms transfers, technical support and financial ties to assess where and how British policy has shaped conflicts across the region, and what responsibilities may follow.

In 1951, then-Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalised Iran’s oil industry, which had been under the control of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) (which would later become British Petroleum (BP)) since 1914, after huge oil reserves were discovered in the country. This daring move by Mosaddegh had disastrous consequences for the UK, resulting in Britain losing control of Iranian oil production and profits, as well as its strategic influence in Iran.

The UK imposed an oil embargo on Iran, preventing it from exporting oil internationally and started building substantial international pressure through its diplomatic channels to isolate Iran from the International community and to pressure its allies.

Failing to apply sufficient pressure to force Prime Minister Mosaddegh to back down, the UK, together with the United States, started orchestrating a plan to remove Mosaddegh from the scene and plant someone in power suitable for British and US interests. Thus, Operation Ajax was born, and through the funding of anti-government protests, bribing Iranian politicians and military officers, spreading propaganda against Mosaddegh and coordinating military units loyal to the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the CIA and the MI6 were able to remove Mosaddegh and place the Shah in its place.

While the Shah was in power, the UK was able to close significant arms deals to empower the Imperial Iranian military. In 1967, the Royal Navy Destroyer Sluys was sold to Iran after refurbishment and upgrades, and was later rebaptized as Artemiz. Between 1968 and 1972, the British companies Vosper Thornycroft and Vickers built and supplied four Alvand-class frigates to the Iranian Navy, all equipped with Sea Cat surface-to-air missiles, Sea Killer anti-ship missiles, and Limbo anti-submarine mortars. Vickers also built the Frigate Rostam, which was launched in 1969 and delivered to the Iranian Navy in 1972. Some of these vessels would, after the 1979 revolution, still play a pivotal role in Iran’s naval strategy.

The UK also supplied armoured vehicles and ammunition to the Shah’s regime, including a battalion of Chieftain tanks to the Imperial Guard of the Iranian army, which was directly responsible to the Shah.

The UK deployed a special military training team to Iran, known as the Commissioning and Advisory Team (CAAT), which was based in the Iranian army’s headquarters. A Royal Air Force wing commander served with the Iranian air force, offering guidance on ground-to-air operations. Additionally, a small team of Royal Marines was advising Iran’s navy on establishing a Marine Commando unit.

Between 1971 and 1976, the Shah also ordered 1,500 FV4201 Chieftain main battle tanks (MBTs) and 250 repair vehicles, costing £650 million, which the Monarch paid for upfront. By 1979, when the Islamic revolution consolidated its power under Ayatollah Khomeini and transformed Iran into an Islamic Republic, only 185 tanks had been delivered to Tehran, and now, the UK found itself in a precarious position, as the new regime was not as favourable to London and its western allies as the previous ruler.

The UK halted the export of the Chieftains, which obviously angered the Iranians, as the trade had already been paid for. The deal was now in shambles, a deal which had been negotiated between an agency owned by the Ministry of Defence, Millbank Technical Services (MTS), and a confidante of the Shah, a British-Iranian named Shapoor Reporter (who would allegedly and unofficially receive 1% of the price for persuading his Monarch friend to choose the British Chieftain over the German Leopard tank. Reporter died in 2013.)

With warehouses filled with battle tanks, the UK was now in disarray, and it sold 279 Chieftains to Jordan. At the same time, Britain also sold 29 tanks to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq shortly before the start of the Iran-Iraq war, which claimed 500,000 lives. The UK continued to refuse to supply the tanks or pay back the money to Iran, a dispute that would take over 40 years to settle and would finally be settled in 2022, when the UK finally paid its debt to Tehran, and simultaneously secured the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national who was arrested in 2016 in Iran, accused of conspiring to overthrow the Iranian regime.

British support for the SAVAK, Iran’s brutal and feared internal security service, was also highly questionable. This internal police was responsible for the detention of over 50,000 political prisoners and countless cases of torture and other forms of abuse. The British Information Research Department (IRD) helped strengthen the Shah’s position against internal threats, including the pro-Soviet Tudeh party and Arab nationalists backing Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Keeping the Shah, its military, and its internal police happy was very important for the UK, as Iran played a pivotal role as a regional ally and partner. Obviously, all changed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. All arms exports and military cooperation were halted, with arms embargoes and sanctions being applied to Iran’s military forces.

Despite the embargo, several European companies, including a young British company named Allivane, were producing and exporting 155mm Extended Range Full Bore munitions to both Iraq and Iran during the eight-year bloody conflict between the two neighbouring countries. British company Alliance produced the fuses, while the rest of the assembly and shipping was divided through 6 other companies across Europe, including France, Spain and Portugal.

British company Royal Ordnance also played a pivotal role in this deal; the British company initially supplied M525 mortar fuses but later assisted the Portuguese SPEL in filling the 155mm projectiles with explosives. The process was under SPEL’s control, but the company was unable to handle it alone. By 1988, when the hostilities ceased, these companies had blatantly ignored embargoes and international sanctions and supplied the Iranian regime with millions of 155mm calibre shells and 81mm mortar bombs, causing massive destruction and death across the region. It is important to note that these activities were never official UK policy, however, some investigations state that several British Government Officials were aware and briefed on the operation, it is alleged, with export licences being issued using false end-user certificates to disguise its final destination.

The UK government has adhered to arms embargoes on Iran, with its export licences mainly covering civilian goods and chemicals; only dual-use items have been exported. These dual-use exports allow control over all materials, software, and technology that can be used for civil purposes such as humanitarian aid, as well as for military purposes.

Despite this prohibition, from 2012 to 2022, the UK still provided Iran with 59 export licences for components for civil aircraft, 16 licences for civil aero-engines, and 14 licences for Components for civil aero-engines, worth over £1.0bn. Seals are frequently among the export licences granted, and together with gaskets, they can serve as components for nuclear reactor vessels or testing equipment, as described in the Council of the European Union’s Regulation (EC) No 423/2007 dated April 19, 2007, regarding restrictive measures against Iran. As a result, many believe that the UK may be providing considerable support to Iran’s nuclear programme.

The UK has sanctioned multiple individuals and entities related to Iran for destabilising activity in the Middle East and for direct attacks on Israel. Over 400 sanctions have already been imposed on Tehran, including on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety.

On two distinct occasions, British military personnel from the Royal Navy were detained by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. First, in 2004, in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, six Royal Marines and two Royal Navy sailors were captured by Iranian forces while training Iraqi river patrol personnel after Iran said they had entered Iranian waters. They were released after three days, when the British and Iranian governments reached an agreement. One of the detainees stated that they underwent mock executions, forced to stand blindfolded in front of a ditch in the desert while their Iranian captors cocked their weapons.

In 2007, a similar incident occurred when 15 Royal Navy personnel from HMS Cornwall were inspecting a merchant vessel off the coast between Iran and Iraq. They were intercepted and detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy. After their release, the personnel admitted to being put under “constant psychological pressure” from the Iranian authorities. In addition, British equipment, including a secure voice communication kit and navigational hardware, was not returned to the UK forces.

More recently, on the 28th of February 2026, the US-Israeli coalition launched Operation Epic Fury (Israeli codename Roaring Lion), involving missiles, drones, and aircraft striking Iranian military targets across the country. As the attacks intensify, more and more evidence of attacks against civilians is becoming prevalent: The noticeable case of the elementary school strike on the 28th, which killed over 100 school children and dozens more civilians, where the analysed evidence shows that, despite consistent denial, the strike was conducted by U.S Tomahawk missiles.

In support of these operations, the UK government confirmed that United States forces are authorised to use British military bases only for limited defensive strikes against Iranian missile facilities. Defence Minister Al Carns stated that “The agreement allowing the US to use UK military bases is for specific and limited defensive action against missile facilities in Iran which are involved in launching strikes at regional allies.”

Despite this rhetoric, several US B-1 Lancer bombers landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on the 7th and 8th of March, before joining the bombing strikes in Iran. An additional three B-52 US Strategic bomberslanded at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire shortly after.

On March 2nd, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, was attacked by an Iranian-made drone. Hours later, two unmanned drones heading towards the same base were successfully intercepted. The next day, the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon set sail for the eastern Mediterranean to join the UK’s defensive operations in the region, with the primary role of protecting RAF Akrotiri. HMS Dragon is armed with Sea Viper missiles and accompanied by Wildcat helicopters from the 815 Naval Air Squadron equipped with Martlet missiles capable of taking out aerial drones.

The aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has also reportedly been instructed to increase its readiness for a possible deployment to the region.