Britain’s attorney general has warned ministers that getting involved in Israel’s war againstIrancould be illegal beyond offering defensive support, it has emerged.
Richard Hermer, the government’s most senior legal officer, is understood to have raised concerns internally about the legality of joining a bombing campaign against Iran.
An official who has seen Hermer’s official legal advicetold the Spectator, which first reported the story, that “the AG has concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies”.
Keir Starmer is considering whether to provide the US with military support if Donald Trump decides to bomb Iran, and whether to approve the use of the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean for the attack. Hermer’s advice could limit the degree of UK support for the US.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said: “By longstanding convention, reflected in the ministerial code, whether the law officers have been asked to provide legal advice and the content of any advice is not routinely disclosed.
“The convention provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.”
The prime ministerchaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesdayto discuss a range of scenarios and ongoing diplomatic efforts. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Washington DC on Thursday as the US weighs up its options.
Trump hasyet to make a final decisionon whether to launch strikes against Iran.The Guardian reportedthat the president had suggested to defence officials it would make sense to do so only if the so-called bunker buster bomb was guaranteed to destroy the country’s critical uranium enrichment facility, which is between 80 and 90 metresinside a mountain at Fordow.
Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire for days afterIsraellaunched airstrikes which it said were aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials claim the country’s nuclear programme is peaceful and that Israel has caused hundreds of civilian casualties.
Taking Fordow offline – either diplomatically or militarily – is seen as central to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons after the International Atomic Energy Agency found the site hadenriched uranium to 83.7%– close to the 90% needed for nuclear weapons.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, an energy minister, said Starmer would take any decisions with a “cool, calm head” and be guided by international law.
“Legal advice is for the prime minister, and I think that’s where it will stay – and you can understand why I won’t comment on that. But what I will say is that we have a prime minister who is a lawyer and a human rights lawyer, he will obviously do everything that is in accord with international law,” she told Times Radio.
“No one wants an escalation. No one wants this to erupt into a major conflict in the region that is hugely destabilising for every country involved, and for us globally. So the most important role that the prime minister can play, and is playing, is to be that cool, calm head to urge all partners around the negotiating table and to find a diplomatic route out of this.”
However, the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, said the UK could “hide behind legal advice at a time of crisis”.
Asked if she believed Hermer was right to sound a warning, Patel told Times Radio: “I don’t think we can hide behind legal advice at a time of crisis and national security when we have to work alongside our biggest ally in the world, the United States, when they look to us for potentially … setting out operational activities through our own military bases.”
The UK had not received a formal request from the US to use Diego Garcia in the south Indian Ocean or any of its other airbases to bombIranas of Wednesday night.
Diego Garcia wasrecently the subject of a new 99-year lease agreementwith Mauritius that left the UK in full operational control of the military base. In practice, Diego Garcia is mainly used by the US, but the fact that it is ultimately a British base means that Starmer would have to approve its use for an attack on Iran.
The US is also thought likely to want to request the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus for its air tankers, used to refuel B-2 bombers. The UK has deployed 14 Typhoon jets at Akrotiri to protect its bases and forces and to help regional allies, such as Cyprus and Oman, if they come under attack.