The Prime Ministerial tenure of Andy Burnham was not 24 hours old before the report came that he would allow American use of United Kingdom bases – most crucially in Diego Garcia – for “defensive” strikes on Iran. The qualifier is so expansive as to be meaningless except in the realm of legal technicality: the United States’s war against the Islamic Republic rests in no small part upon British goodwill. It is not, of course, the first time that Britain has lent its capabilities to war in the Middle East in which the Americans are involved. The Royal Air Force was active in downing Iranian drones sent against Israel and Qatar, at the least, at various points in 2024, 2025, and 2026. The RAF joined the United States Navy in strikes on Yemeni positions in spring 2025. And the RAF flew intelligence-gathering missions over Gaza to aid in the search for hostages there.
One may or may not agree with overall British policy on the Iran war specifically – I happen to believe that it is in Britain’s interest to participate – but it is simply an empirical fact that Britain has largely been supportive of America’s wars in the past few decades. Keep this in mind.
The Argentinian record is considerably less robust. Argentina lent four naval vessels to the 1991 war with Iraq, and it has lent rhetorical support to the 2026 war with Iran. Thus ends the record.
