{"id":504564,"date":"2026-03-31T03:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/504564\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:56:15","slug":"us-bombers-increase-at-uk-base-exposes-keir-starmer-iran-war-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/504564\/","title":{"rendered":"US bombers increase at UK base &#8216;exposes Keir Starmer Iran war lie&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  On Monday, <a href=\"https:\/\/ukdefencejournal.org.uk\/huge-build-of-american-bombers-in-england\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">UK Defence Journal<\/a> reported that the US has deployed two additional B-52H Stratofortress bomber planes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/25909109.drone-hit-raf-base-cyprus-not-launched-iran--ministry-defence-says\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RAF Fairford<\/a> as part of Operation Epic Fury.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The increase takes the total number of long-range jets \u2013 which are capable of firing nuclear cruise missiles or nuclear gravity bombs \u2013 at the base to eight.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  UK Defence Journal also reports that there is a larger contingent of B-1B Lancers operating from the Gloucestershire base.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/25980887.ofcom-launch-probe-talk-tv-segment-broadcasting-anti-trans-hate\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ofcom launch probe into Talk TV segment &#8216;broadcasting anti-trans hate&#8217;<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The B-52 jets can carry up to around 70,000 pounds of weapons, and can operate over 8800 miles before needing to refuel.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It comes as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/25932782.can-scottish-government-ban-us-military-prestwick\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Prestwick Airport<\/a> has come under increased scrutiny in recent months, due to the US Air Force&#8217;s use of the publicly-owned airport amid the conflict in the Middle East.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In response to the increase in US aircraft, Stop the War national convenor Lindsey German said: \u201cRAF Fairford is being used to illegally attack Iran and Keir Starmer is lying to the British public when he claims it\u2019s just \u2018defensive\u2019 action against missile sites targeting British interests. He should not allow the US to use British bases, he must stop collaborating with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/topics\/donald-trump\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> in his illegal wars and he should break with the US entirely over foreign policy.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201c We need a foreign policy based on equality and justice, not on imperialism and bombing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/topics\/scottish-greens\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Scottish Greens<\/a> external affairs spokesperson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/topics\/patrick-harvie\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Patrick Harvie<\/a> said that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/topics\/uk-government\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">UK Government<\/a> appears \u201cutterly complacent about facilitating the US war-machine one way or another\u201d.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Patrick Harvie said the UK had been utterly complacent\"\/>Patrick Harvie said the UK had been utterly complacent (Image: NQ)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe US has been repeatedly threatening to deliberately target civilian infrastructure, including the power plants that desalination and other life-critical functions depend on,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThis would cause a humanitarian catastrophe, and the US has already been warned that it would amount to a war crime.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cNobody wants this illegal, immoral war. A former human rights lawyer of all people should be able to recognise and oppose the atrocities and occupation being carried out across multiple countries in the Middle East by Israel and the US.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cStarmer says the UK\u2019s armed forces are not involved and that he wants to see a peaceful process in place of war. But unless he stands up to Trump and bans his military from using UK infrastructure during active conflict, then the Prime Minister\u2019s wishes for diplomacy are nothing short of lip service.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A Green Party of England and Wales source told The National: \u201cThe Labour government must come clean to the public \u2013 claims that Britain is \u2018not taking part\u2019 in this illegal war on Iran are impossible to square with reports of US bombers operating from RAF Fairford.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.scot\/news\/25980813.kemi-badenoch-says-snp-majority-will-trigger-indyref2\/?ref=ed_latest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kemi Badenoch says SNP majority will trigger indyref2<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe UK should not be enabling an illegal war of aggression,\u201d the source added.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cPermission for US forces to use British bases for strikes on Iran should be withdrawn. The government must also end arms sales to and military cooperation with the Israeli government, impose sanctions on officials responsible for breaches of international law, and refuse any further complicity in this illegal war.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: \u201cThese claims are incorrect \u2013 this government has given permission to the US to use British bases for specific and limited defensive operations \u2013 in collective self-defence of our regional allies and to protect British lives.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe US is our principal defence and security partner and has operated from British bases for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, UK Defence Journal reported that the US has deployed two additional B-52H Stratofortress bomber planes to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-504564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}