Keir Starmer backs US strike on Iran but warns of wider escalation risk | Foreign policy

Keir Starmer has warned of a “risk of escalation” in the Middle East and beyond as a result of the US bombing of Iran, but backed the strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and called on Tehran to return to negotiations.

The prime minister, who was quick to clarify that the UK had not been involved in the strikes, held talks with France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Sunday afternoon after convening a Cobra meeting in the aftermath of the US attack.

The US made no request for any UK assistance in the bombing of the three nuclear sites, the Guardian understands, including any use of the leased Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, the recent subject of a controversial deal with Mauritius.

In a joint statement, the three European leaders…