Israel seeks to join Iran bombing that killed 35
US strikes have killed dozens of Iranian civilians this month; Israel is lobbying to join in while British bases keep the bombers flying.
A maintenance technician for Iran’s state telecoms company was killed on duty on Farur Island this month when a US strike hit the area. A security guard died when a projectile struck a water pumping station in Mahshahr. On 17 July, three more people were killed in Hormozgan province, in strikes on a neighbourhood in Bandar Abbas and on bridges in Khamir County.
These are the people paying for a war most of Britain has stopped watching. The United States has bombed southern Iran for six consecutive nights, and Israel is now asking Washington for permission to join in, seeking deeper Israel-Iran war involvement after weeks of staying formally out of the fighting.
Israel Iran war involvement deepens without political cost at home Iran’s health ministry says at least 35 civilians have been killed and 300 wounded this month alone, with the worst damage in Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Khuzestan. Those figures come from Tehran and cannot be independently verified, but they are consistent with strike reports from Bandar-e Khamir, Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas and Chabahar over the past week.
Israel has not fired on Iran in this round. But an Israeli official told the New York Post the country is “willing to do it again, if needed” and wants to “stretch our muscles”. Israeli television has described Washington managing an ally eager to join in. Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Donald Trump by phone on 9 July and the two agreed, his office said, to “continue coordination across various fronts”. Staying out of the bombing runs is not restraint. It is a division of labour: Israeli intelligence and operational support, American aircraft, and none of the blame.
Britain’s runways
Keir Starmer told the Commons in March that Britain had declined to join strikes on Iran. Britain’s bases did not decline. Diego Garcia, the joint UK-US base in the Indian Ocean, has hosted six B-2 bombers since February. RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire launched what Al Jazeera reported as the first US strike on Iran flown from British soil. Iran fired two missiles at Diego Garcia in March after the base was opened to American use; both missed.
Whether Fairford and Diego Garcia are flying the current round of sorties is not yet confirmed on the public record. What is confirmed is that Britain built the infrastructure and has not withdrawn it.
The park rangers, telecoms engineers and security guards of Hormozgan did not choose this war. Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford did not close when Starmer said Britain wasn’t fighting.
