Boris Johnson Blasts Starmer Over Britain's 'Strategic Failure' As US-Iran War Escalates

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - As the war between the United States and Iran enters its fifth week, one of Britain's most prominent former leaders has broken ranks with a sharp and public indictment of his country's response. On Friday, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson published a stinging critique of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government in the Daily Mail, describing London's posture throughout the conflict as a major strategic failure and demanding to know why Britain has played no meaningful role in either the political or military dimensions of the crisis.

Johnson characterized Starmer's government as "cold and silent" in the face of the escalating confrontation between Washington and Tehran — both before the war erupted and after. He argued that Britain should have engaged in strategic dialogue with US President Donald Trump from the earliest stages, rather than allowing political influence over the conflict to remain exclusively in the hands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The former prime minister pointed out that the United States had been assembling a significant military force near Iran since the beginning of the year, a buildup that he said should have prompted London to take early political and intelligence action to understand Washington's intentions and position itself to shape the course of events. Instead, he said, Britain stood aside.

Johnson also drew attention to Britain's deep historical ties to the Gulf and the Middle East, noting that London had played a foundational role in establishing several Gulf states and had maintained long-standing relationships across the region. That history, he argued, gave Britain both the standing and the responsibility to contribute to shaping Western strategy toward Iran, a responsibility he said the Starmer government had failed to honour.

His critique extended to Britain's military response following the outbreak of hostilities. Johnson noted that London had deployed only four Typhoon fighter jets from Cyprus to intercept Iranian drones, without deploying any additional air defense systems, and had reduced its naval presence in Bahrain at the very moment Gulf states were coming under sustained attack. He described Starmer's statement that "this is not our war" as a strategic error, particularly given Iran's ongoing drone strikes against Britain's Gulf allies — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman — and the direct impact the conflict was having on energy prices and the British economy.

That statement, made by Starmer on Mar. 30, 2026, had drawn fierce criticism from Washington as well. President Trump had previously rebuked the British prime minister for refusing to cooperate with the American military campaign. Starmer had maintained at the time that Britain's position was purely defensive, that reopening the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz was London's primary concern, and that direct ground involvement in the conflict was not part of Britain's agenda.

The war itself began on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran, killing several senior Iranian officials. Tehran responded swiftly, firing missiles toward Israel while simultaneously targeting multiple American military bases across the region.