Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair has intensified pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the Iran conflict, saying Britain should have backed President Donald Trump "from the very beginning" and allowed the United States to use British airbases for the initial strikes, according to reports from a private event that surfaced Sunday.
Blair's reported remarks opened a fresh Labour divide as Starmer defends his decision to keep Britain out of the initial U.S. and Israeli attacks and limit British involvement to what the government has described as defensive action.
The dispute also comes after Trump again accused Starmer of offering support too late.
At the private Jewish News event on Friday, Blair was reported to have said Britain should have backed Washington from the start and argued that the U.S. alliance remained central to British security.
He was also reported to have said that if the Americans are "an indispensable cornerstone" of British security, Britain "had better show up."
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper rejected that view on Sunday, saying Starmer was right to apply lessons from Iraq and to act only where Britain judged it to be in the national interest.
She said Britain should help defend against Iranian retaliation but not automatically take part in offensive action.
Trump sharpened the pressure in a Truth Social post in which he said:
"The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That's OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them any longer — But we will remember. We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won! President DONALD J. TRUMP."
Reuters reported that Britain's Ministry of Defence was preparing the aircraft carrier Prince of Wales for possible deployment, while saying no final decision had been made.
Starmer has publicly defended his stance, saying Britain did not join the initial strikes because he wanted to be satisfied that any action was legal, deliberate, and in the national interest.
He later said the situation changed when Iran began firing drones and missiles at countries in the region, and Britain then used military assets to defend its people and allies.
Blair's intervention carries unusual political force because he led Britain into the 2003 Iraq War alongside the United States.
The Chilcot inquiry later concluded that the case for war was advanced before peaceful options were exhausted and that post-war planning was gravely deficient.
That legacy still hangs over British decisions on Middle East intervention.
Starmer has said Britain 'remember[s] the mistakes of Iraq' and has 'learned those lessons,' and public opinion remains wary of another conflict, with YouGov finding this week that Britons oppose U.S. strikes on Iran by 49% to 28%."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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