‘Simply not true’ UK is being dragged into Iraq-style conflict, says foreign secretary

‘Simply not true’ UK is being dragged into Iraq-style conflict, says foreign secretary Yvette Cooper says plans under consideration to evacuate about 300,000 Britons from Middle East amid Iran war US-Israel war on Iran – live updates It is “simply not true” that the UK is being dragged into another Iraq-style conflict in the Middle East, Yvette Cooper has said, after an RAF base in Cyprus was struck by an Iranian drone. The attack was part of a barrage of strikes by Tehran around the Middle East following a US-Israeli attack on Saturday that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . The UK foreign secretary confirmed ministers were considering possible plans to evacuate about 300,000 Britons from the region. Britain had no involvement in the initial attack but in a statement late on Sunday, Keir Starmer said he had agreed to let the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites, so as to limit the impact of Iranian strikes. The decision prompted alarm among some opposition parties, with the Liberal Democrats demanding it be put to a vote in parliament. Asked if the UK risked being pulled into an escalating conflict with no end goal, simply because Donald Trump had asked, Cooper said: “That’s simply not true.” She told Sky News on Monday: “We took a very specific decision not to provide support for strikes that were taking place over this weekend. We have been clear that we believe there should be a diplomatic process, negotiations process.” With Iranian missiles and drones causing damage and casualties around the Gulf, as well as in Israel and Cyprus, the UK had to “recognise responsibilities we have around defensive support”, Cooper said, adding: “This is about the defence of our partners in the Gulf and defence of countries where we have so many British citizens and interests in those those countries. “It’s a specific, limited agreement about the defence of Gulf countries, and many of those Gulf countries were not involved in an...