London, Paris, and Berlin Signal Readiness to Launch Strikes on Iran

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany have said they may carry out strikes against Iran.

In a statement, the German federal government said such action would be in response to Iranian attacks on European military bases in the Middle East.

European leaders condemned what they described as indiscriminate and disproportionate missile strikes by Iran against countries in the region, including those that were not involved in U.S. or Israeli military operations.

“We will take measures to protect our interests and those of our allies in the region, including by carrying out the necessary and proportionate defensive actions to deprive Iran of the ability to launch missiles and drones,” the German government said in a statement.

On March 1, several Iranian drones struck the French naval base Camp de la Paix in Abu Dhabi. French forces were not involved in the U.S.-Israeli operation.

The UK’s position

On March 2, an Iranian drone struck the British airbase Akrotiri in Cyprus.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer authorized the United States to use British military bases to destroy Iranian missile depots and launchers.

Starmer said the decision to allow U.S. forces access to British facilities was made in response to a request from Washington for a specific ‘limited defensive purpose.’

According to him, on Saturday, February 28, Iran struck a military base in Bahrain, narrowly missing British personnel. He stressed that despite the involvement of British aircraft in coordinated defensive operations, during which Iranian attacks had already been intercepted, “the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles.”

“The United States requested permission to use British bases for this specific and limited defensive purpose. We decided to grant that request in order to prevent Iran from launching missiles across the region, causing the deaths of innocent civilians, endangering British lives, and striking countries that were not involved in the conflict,” he emphasized.

Starmer also said that Britain would involve experts from Ukraine to help counter Iranian drones in the Persian Gulf.