PNN – The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer noting that intelligence and defense cooperation with the United States has continued for decades, said that Britain’s national interests are his priority and that he will not change his mind about entering an imposed war against Iran under pressure from the US President.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; In an interview, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in response to a question about the state of relations with the United States – one of London’s main allies, given the tense relations with US President Donald Trump, who has recently repeatedly criticized him for London’s stance on the imposed American-Zionist war against Iran, said: We must bear in mind that for decades, regardless of who is the Prime Minister or who is the President, we have had continuous cooperation with the United States in the fields of intelligence and defense security, which is very important. We have very close relations and this should not be ignored.
Starmer, referring to London’s position regarding the illegal US attacks on Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is to refuse to participate in it by sending British warships to escort international ships in the Strait of Hormuz and refusing to place its bases for direct attacks on Iran, added: We have certainly had difficult discussions with President Trump, the main purpose of which has been to pressure me to change my view and enter this war. But I am not going to do that. I am the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and I am acting in accordance with the national interests of the United Kingdom.
Getting involved in this war is not in our national interest.
The British Prime Minister emphasized: Whatever pressure there is, from whoever it is, I will not hesitate to do so; I will always put British national security first. It is not in our national interest to engage in this war. What our national interest requires is to protect the lives and interests of British people and our allies in the Persian Gulf region.
The British Prime Minister’s remarks came at a time when the country’s government had previously given the US President Permission to use its bases to attack Iranian facilities in the Strait of Hormuz, but Starmer’s office then claimed that this action was still defined within the framework of “collective defense” and did not mean London’s entry into a wider war.
British cabinet members claimed in a meeting held last Friday that the agreement on the US use of British bases includes US defensive operations to undermine missile sites and capabilities used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
London also claimed that the principles of Britain’s approach to this conflict remain unchanged and called for an immediate reduction in tensions and a speedy end to the war.
In this regard, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, in response to the British Prime Minister’s decision to make British bases available for aggressive actions against Iran, said: The overwhelming majority of the British people have no desire to participate in the war of choice of Israel and the United States against Iran.
Saying that Starmer is putting the lives of British citizens at risk by ignoring the will of his own people, he stressed: Iran will exercise its legitimate right to defend itself.