British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has seen his approval rating in the United Kingdom plunge to around 50 points underwater, boasted about his country’s decision to stay out of the conflict in Iran to a group of Muslims on Tuesday.
Starmer spoke to Muslims at a Ramadan ceremony held at Westminster Hall on Tuesday night and was applauded when he said, “On Iran, I want to make clear that the U.K. was not involved in the offensive strikes of the U.S. and Israel, and that remains the case.”
“As many of you know, I never supported the Iraq war back in 2003, and I’m determined that we learn and follow the lessons today,” he added. “However, Iran has attacked countries like us who played no role … the attacks are indiscriminate. And so what we are now doing is allowing our bases to be used for the defensive purposes of preventing those attacks and protecting innocent lives.”
After President Donald Trump authorized the U.S. military to conduct joint strikes with Israel on Iran last weekend, Starmer immediately made clear that while Iran “poses a direct threat” to many Brits, especially Iranian dissidents and Jewish people, the United Kingdom was not involved in the strikes targeting Iranian leaders, military infrastructure, and nuclear sites. Starmer also initially refused to allow American forces to use British bases to conduct strikes.
After Trump ripped Starmer over the refusal to grant the United States military permission to use U.K. bases, the prime minister backed down and allowed American forces to use the United Kingdom’s base in Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. Trump said Britain “took far too long” to agree to the U.S. military’s request to operate out of Diego Garcia for “Operation Epic Fury.”
Trump argued that Britain should have been fully on board with the Iran strikes, saying that Iran has been responsible for killing a “lot of people from your country.”
Starmer’s remarks at the Ramadan ceremony on Tuesday were criticized by conservatives who have warned that Britain’s lax immigration policies are moving the country away from its traditional Western values, as scores of Muslim migrants have moved to London and the surrounding area in recent years. England’s Muslim population has jumped to around four million from less than three million in 2011. Muslims now make up around 6% of the United Kingdom’s total population.
England has also reportedly been a haven for Mojtaba Khamenei, the man poised to take over as Iran’s Supreme Leader following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Bloomberg reported in January that Mojtaba Khamenei is part of a vast Iranian network that has bought property throughout Europe, including “more than a dozen properties in London.”
Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly acquired the properties through Iranian businessman Ali Ansari, who has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and the United States. One of Mojtaba Khamenei’s properties is on The Bishops Avenue, considered to be one of the most affluent streets in the world.
U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in 2008 also report that Mojtaba Khamenei made multiple trips to London to receive medical treatment for impotence after struggling to conceive a child with his wife.
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