London, 5th March 2026 – The Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine unequivocally condemns the latest unilateral and unlawful US-Israeli military action in Iran and urges the UK Government not to be complicit by allowing the US to use British military bases to attack Iran.

The Iranian people have a right to live free from a brutal regime; however, regime change from the skies can only unleash more bloodshed and regional mayhem – particularly when one of the instigators is an indicted war criminal like Benjamin Netanyahu. The devastating human cost is already evident, including in the killing of 165 Iranian schoolgirls and staff in a strike on a girls’ primary school in Minab.

Marco Rubio has suggested that the US was forced into attacking Iran after being informed that Israel planned to launch strikes first. Under the shadow of these attacks, Israel has stepped up its illegal activities in the State of Palestine, including by closing aid crossings into Gaza and sealing off checkpoints in the unlawfully occupied West Bank. This has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence.

The attacks have diverted international attention at a time when Israel has moved to cement its de facto annexation of the West Bank through major new national legislation and the advancement of its ‘Doomsday’ E1 settlement project. Meanwhile, a genocide remains ongoing in Gaza where Palestinians continue to endure a man-made humanitarian catastrophe and face near-daily Israeli attacks under what is clearly a ceasefire in name only.

Rather than allowing the US to drag us into yet another illegal war in the Middle East, the Labour Government must learn from the mistakes of the past. It must urgently refocus its efforts on protecting the international legal framework and taking consequential action to hold those who undermine it to account.

It should be added that the UK itself is illegally occupying the Chagos Islands, so permission to use the Diego Garcia military base is not even ours to give.

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