The WaPo’s Max Fisher is circulating a piece from the Guardian that says the UK has no intention of joining any war on Iran that doesn’t have clear UNSC approval.
The British attorney general has circulated legal advice to the prime minister’s office, Foreign Office and Defense Ministry warning that a preemptive military strike on Iran could violate international law, the Guardian’s Nick Hopkins reports. The existence of this secret document suggests that the U.K. government believes that Iran does not currently meet the legal threshold for a “clear and present danger” that would merit such an attack.
…The Guardian also reveals that the U.K. is using this legal document to deny the U.S. assistance in contingency planning for a strike on Iran. The U.S. is reportedly asking for access to British airbases that are strategically located on remote islands.
…Based on this story, it appears that the U.K. wants little or nothing to do with even U.S. planning for a potential strike on Iran, much less the attack itself. “I think the U.S. has been surprised that ministers have been reluctant to provide assurances about this kind of upfront assistance,” an anonymous British source told the Guardian, speculating that this meant Washington might not even inform London of an attack until after it had happened. “In some respects, the U.K. government would prefer it that way.”
I suspect this move is mostly because Cameron and the rest realize that the British electorate are weary of dumb wars and need a good excuse to say no to the US over - after all, Tony Blair had no actual legal problems after his own illegal war - but it’s still a good thing, making a US attack just a bit less likely.
What if they gave a war and nobody came?
Perhaps excessively bitchy, but what if the opposition to kinetics went beyond sloganeering? “They” win in these policy decisions in the main because “they” have the orthodox policy position and “they” push their position more effectively.
Actually pushing the boulder downhill beats standing around complaining about the moral wrongness of the boulder at the bottom of the hill every time.
The real news here is that the Obama Administration is laying the groundwork for an attack on Iran, not just giving Bibi their seal of approval. Furthermore, that the Brits are blowing their confidence, out in the diplomatic open. Maybe it’s an elaborate ruse to keep the Israelis from launching an attack before the election.