https://arab.news/cafbw
The American-Israeli strikes on Iran have been widely compared to the 2003 war on Iraq. As ever, there are significant commonalities and major differences.
Back in 2003, it was the UK under Tony Blair that was the junior partner in an ill-advised, ill-conceived military adventure that lacked regional and international support. It was London that propped up an American president whose motives many did not trust. Many will argue that, as with Iraq in 2003, Iran in 2026 is not about weapons of mass destruction, not least as US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated” by last June’s strikes.
This time, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not just opted out, he has also seemingly denied the US the use of British military bases, including Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Starmer on Saturday confirmed that the UK has had no role in the strikes. For Britain, this is less like Iraq in 2003 and more like Vietnam in the 1960s, when then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson refused to follow President Lyndon Johnson into war. Wilson and Johnson had arguably one of the worst relationships between the leaders of these two great allies in the post-Second World War era.
