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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street on June 10, 2025. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt – WPA Pool \/ Getty Images)(Image: 2025 Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe issue of whether the UK could be drawn into the Iran conflict is now being considered – and one former cabinet minister has explored the issue in terms of international lawPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street on June 10, 2025. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt – WPA Pool \/ Getty Images)(Image: 2025 Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The UK government’s legal rights if it decided to assist the US military are an area that could soon become a major subject of public debate. In the wake of US strikes on Iran, the world is watching to see what might happen next.<\/p>\n
There are fears Iran may strike US bases in the Middle East or shut the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route used for supplying oil around the world. The UK is not involved in the action as it stands.<\/p>\n
But it has become embroiled in US military action in the Middle East in the past. And today questions have been asked about what Sir Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation’s legal considerations would be if it were once again drawn into conflict.<\/p>\n
What is UK’s position in international law if it assists USA over Iran?<\/p>\n
The UK could only provide assistance legally \u201cto an ally against an imminent threat to that ally,\u201d former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer has said today. He told Sky News\u2019s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: \u201cI think that, legally, the position is we could only provide assistance if we were providing assistance to an ally against an imminent threat to that ally and I think the only question of an imminent threat would have been in relation to Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the international law position. I think that we would regard, for the purposes of international law, both America and Israel as, in inverted commas, \u2018allies\u2019 for that purpose so if there was an imminent threat and America was standing beside Israel, if we were willing to stand beside Israel as well, we could have participated, but it never arose as an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to say: \u201cIt depends what happens now, because if the position is that there are attacks on, for example, American bases, we can provide assistance in relation to that because that would be a matter of self-defence at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
What has Starmer government said about the law and US bombings?<\/p>\n