The Ministry of Defence just released a new video of UK troops sheltering from Iranian missiles somewhere in the Middle East. What’s that I hear you say? British troops aren’t officially involved in a war. Wrong again, as it turns out.
Here’s the video published on 30 April that shows gunners from the RAF Regiment hiding as Iranian missiles come in:
Raw, unfiltered footage captured on the ground as our troops take cover from an aerial threat in The Middle East.
In the past few months, RAF Counter Uncrewed Aerial System teams, operating Rapid Sentry, have been actively shooting down drone threats using Lightweight… pic.twitter.com/w2syFQZNHf
— Ministry of Defence
(@DefenceHQ) April 30, 2026
They are there because of their ‘expertise’ at shooting down drones. And you’ll see that the images look suspiciously like a group of men at war. They paint a very different picture to the official UK government line about Iran. For example only days ago, on 28 April, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said:
The Iran war is not our war but I’m very proud of the way our UK forces have protected British bases, British citizens and British allies and partners.
Pollard was echoing the official, ridiculous and widely debunked British position that the UK was only involved in ‘defensive action’.
It’s hard to know if the soldiers under fire feel the same way…
UK stance — a mass of contradictions
Pollard’s comments also contradicted his own boss, Defence Secretary John Healey. Healey said on 11 April:
Even in this current conflict, the basing permissions that we in the UK have agreed with the US have been invaluable to their military operations.
At the core of this bizarre situation is PM Keir Starmer’s patently false claim that the UK is only involved in ‘defensive’ action against Iran. Because whichever way you spin it, this bit of wordplay still means the UK is at war with Iran.
Also on 28 April, a different Defence Minister refused to acknowledge that US flights from British bases at home and from Diego Garcia were striking Iran.
Al Carns answered a question from Your Party leader Jeremy Corbyn:
For operational security reasons, we do not offer comment or information relating to foreign nations’ military operations.
Permissions to utilise UK military bases by foreign partners are considered on a case-by-case basis. All UK operational support to allies and partners is considered in terms of legality.
Again, this is despite UK support for the US-Israel war on Iran being public knowledge — to the degree that it has even become a tourist attraction for families who want to watch US bombers take off.
It cannot be claimed that the UK is not at war, or is only at war in some limited sense Starmer has dreamed up. And certainly not at the same time as a government department is literally posting video evidence to the contrary. This patronising charade has gone on long enough.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
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