Britains function within the current machinations of the US empire has been central, regardless of going underreported and little criticised. Britain has a major hand within the ongoing US warfare of aggression in opposition to Iran and their current invasion of Venezuela. Britains empire and abroad bases, and related intelligence and surveillance capabilities, are cornerstones of its contribution to those ongoing wars. Just as Britains colonial bases in occupied Cyprus served an intelligence and surveillance function within the Gaza genocide, so to did they assist surveil Iran and put together intelligence in preparation for US assaults, and are actually getting used as a staging submit for these assaults. The ongoing UK-Mauritius Chagos Islands deal and subsequent US-UK rift over Diego Garcias use within the assault on Iran reveals the potential for decolonial follow in worldwide legislation and is a case that the US-UK Bases off Cyprus marketing campaign can be taught from.
By Alfie Howis
RAF Akrotiri has been essential within the US assaults on Iran so far. For instance, it offered a base for air refuelling planes that refuelled the bombers that struck Irans nuclear websites in June final yr, and the bases possible offered intelligence and surveillance assist for this operation too. Between March and May final yr, the bottom additionally refuelled US bombers, which attacked Yemen, an assault wherein the RAF additionally straight participated. The base is used for all UK bombing of Iraq and Syria, which nonetheless occurs generally, and it was nearly definitely an intelligence hub for the American assist for the profitable counter-revolution in Syria. British F-35s arecurrently stationedin Akrotiri, reportedly to conduct ELINT (digital intelligence) in opposition to Iran, basically to make use of their superior sensors to collect intelligence on Iranian air defences as half of the present warfare. Any strike on Iran would begin with SEAD (suppression of enemy air defence) operations, necessitating mapping these air defences out beforehand, which is what the F-35s are doing. Now the British authorities has allowed using the bases on Cyprus for assaults on Iran, regardless of earlier denying this. GCHQ and the NSAs essential Middle Eastern intelligence base is within the British base space, which is extraordinarily essential to any army operations within the area. The NSA controls a part of these bases greater than GCHQ, which means that there could be no oversight of US intelligence operations by the UK, not to mention democratic accountability for the individuals of Britain or Cyprus to resolve if they need this sort of factor occurring on their land and of their political jurisdictions.
Britains function in US wars throughout the Trump administration has been rather more important than many individuals realise. Britain actuallysuspendedCaribbean and Eastern Pacific-related intelligence sharing with the US in November 2025 due to the US strikes on fishing boats, which killed harmless individuals. The British state was briefing, ie, telling journalists anonymously, that this was as a result of the strikes had been unlawful murders that Britain didnt wish to be implicated in legally, which was, in fact, a self-interested place, not an ethical one.
Yet by the beginning of this yr, Britain had began to contribute to the Southern Spear mission straight, this time in relation to the oil blockade of Venezuela. Essentially, the UK drew a line between these completely different components of US actions within the space, though the tanker seizures are clearly unlawful too. There had been no less than 4 examples the place that is proof of a direct British function within the seizure of tankers. Britain helped the US seize three tankers within the Caribbean with a complete of two.5 million barrels of oil, the M Sophia, the Olina, and the Sagitta, between January seventh and January twentieth. Britain contributed to this with surveillance flights, in all probability working from British colonies within the Caribbean, from Florida, and from the Azores.
So as soon as once more, we see the intelligence and surveillance function that Britain performs within the imperial alliance; in lieu of a robust navy, Britain appears to have specialised to an extent in its function. This sort of exercise is by its nature fairly secretive it might be politically tough to have despatched navy ships to interdict ships off Venezuela. But the surveillance contribution, enabled by the remaining empires geographical footprint, has not been picked up by the media right here in any respect, and can also be fairly unaccountable to parliament, and never topic to a lot democratic oversight. This, in fact, mirrors Britains function within the Gaza genocide, the place its surveillance contributions have been shrouded in secrecy and the main points hidden even from MPs who’re imagined to have some oversight of the army or no less than its participation in international wars.
The different case is that of the ship, the Bella 1, renamed the Marinera, which the US seized within the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Scotland, on January seventh. This was a Russian-flagged tanker crusing from Venezuela to Russia. What occurred right here was extra direct US particular forces flew to Britain, which was tracked by flight trackers following identified particular ops planes. Then, they undertook the seizure operation after flying from Britain in helicopters, and assembly US Navy ships. Britain offered extra intense logistical and surveillance assist on this occasion, because it occurred so near Britain. The ship was stolen and delivered to Scotland, and the 26 crew had been kidnapped and falsely imprisoned in Scotland, with most having the ability to depart after the US had decided they had been allowed to.
The captain and first mate of this ship, the captain being a Georgian citizen, weren’t allowed to go residence by the US as soon as detained in Scotland. The spouse of the captain made an attraction to the Scottish courts, arguing that her husband was being illegally detained with out the precise to the right extradition procedures. AScottish court docket grantedan interim interdict, an emergency injunction, prohibiting the removing of the captain from Scotland, while the case was heard and the courts made their choices. However, instantly after that court docket choice, the exact same night time, the 2 males had been taken from Scotland to a US Navy ship, which set sail for the US. A few days in the past, the captain had hisfirst court docket hearingin Puerto Rico, the place he might be transferred to DC and placed on trial for stopping a lawful seizure and failure to cease the vessel throughout the Coast Guard chase. The Scottish authorities condemned the US actions, however the Green Party of Scotland led a extra critical evaluation of the state of affairs within the Scottish parliament, arguing that the US had principally illegally kidnapped individuals from Scotland, ignoring the courts.
There are some things to select up on right here. Firstly, like all of the US actions round Venezuela and the tankers, there was no authorized foundation for them to do any of this. A ship isnt unlawful or a part of a darkish fleet simply because its sanctioned by one nation. Venezuela and Russia are, in concept, sovereign nations that may conduct commerce and sail ships between them; nobody will get to randomly name any of that unlawful. There is that this pretense that by some means these sanctions characterize worldwide legislation, however they’re simply edicts by one nation, with no relation to worldwide legislation, treaties, the UN, or any multilateral decision-making physique. In truth, Bella 1 was not even sanctioned by the UK, so what was the doable authorized justification for the UKs involvement on this?
The second half is the US flouting of Scottish and British legislation. Scotland has its personal judicial system that’s separate from the remainder of the UK. It is below the UK Supreme Court and the British Parliament, however it might probably train judicial authority in any other case. Likewise, the Scottish authorities has a excessive stage of autonomy inside the UK, with its personal elected parliament and authorities. The US violating the legislation of locations the place its troops are based mostly is fairly regular, take all of the murders and rapes that associate with US bases overseas, circumstances which have come to prominence in Japan and Korea, particularly. A US diplomats spouse killeda younger manin a automobile crash close to a US base a number of years in the past in England, and flew again to the US, by no means to face any penalties.
So, no matter UK legislation and worldwide legislation, the US is allowed, and even invited, to do no matter it needs in Britain, and might fee the British army to assist. The British army helps the US commit crimes in Britain, crimes below British legislation, within the case of the kidnapping of the sailors from Scotland. The British army is actually serving to a international energy defy civilian courts right here. In the UK, we face the trumping of our personal authorities and authorized system by US imperial diktats, and our army and definitely this authorities, are selecting to actively put it up for sale. It is a critical disaster of sovereignty for the UK. It is extra essential to think about the imperial violence that we’re shelling out to others relatively than ruminating an excessive amount of on the implications of that violence within the metropole, however there are the seeds of a home political and authorized disaster right here, which might in the future assist to undermine Britains function in all of this.
There was comparatively massive news in mid-February about theUK denying the USthe use of its bases for his or her coming renewed warfare on Iran. Namely, bases in England and Diego Garcia, within the Indian Ocean. Trump posted angrily about this and once more withdrew his assist for the Chagos Islands deal. To summarise the present state of affairs relating to the Chagos Islands, theres a UK colony in the midst of the Indian Ocean known as the British Indian Ocean Territory. After WW2, the US leased the principle island, Diego Garcia, as an airbase, and it is now some of the essential US bases on the earth resulting from its location. It was one of many CIA’s black websites and has supported assaults on the area earlier than, together with on Iran. Mauritius went by means of worldwide courts to pressure the UK to provide it again to them and received, so in 2025, the UK authorities made an settlement at hand over the territory however lease the bottom again from Mauritius for 99 years, guaranteeing the bases standing is principally unchanged.
This is sweet news that there’s some form of rift between Britain and the US on this, nevertheless it does increase some attention-grabbing questions, and these denials have been rescinded anyway. Namely, can the UK all the time train this proper of denial, as a result of then it might proactively have needed to have proactively permitted US use of bases for attacking Iran final yr, or did they approve the torture black web site on Diego Garcia, do they approve using UK bases as transit for all this tools to the Middle East which might be used to assault Iran anyway? Secondly, Trump posting that he might have to make use of the Fairford and Diego Garcia bases to assault Iran, regardless of apparently being advised he cant, needs to be a giant deal! Again, the query of UK sovereignty over its personal land and army sources comes up – can we even say no to the US, is it doable in any respect? And will this authorities do something about it if their request is ignored extremely unlikely.
However, it seems that this complete difficulty might have originated in an order to the civil service within the international workplace, telling them to behave as if the Chagos Islands deal had already gone by means of. In this case, evidently the UK authorities requested the Mauritian authorities concerning the US request, they usually will need to have stated no, and so Britain stated no. Alternatively, the international workplace might have stated no based mostly on thespecific wording of the deal,the place Britain should seek the advice of Mauritius on an assault on a 3rd state from Diego Garcia, and have judged Trumps meant actions to be an assault on the Iranian state, relatively than self-defence, which might not require session.
This then makes it appear all of the much less benevolent. This authorities and the earlier authorities, which began negotiations with Mauritius over this deal, have confronted assaults from the precise within the UK for making a gift of British land and throwing away an essential base. The authorities has justified the deal not as a result of it’s the proper factor to do, or by accepting any of the ideas of the arguments round it, however as a substitute, they justify it as a result of they are saying it’s the solely strategy to hold the bottom working. They declare that due to theICJ ruling, they might be pressured to cede the territory very quickly, and so it was finest to make a deal first. We dont usually have a lot religion in these organs of worldwide legislation, as they had been set as much as implement the imperial order. However, it’s doable for the themes of that order to claim some company and try to make use of that system in an rebel method. In this case, it’s Mauritius and far of the world supporting it, which has pressured this to occur, and not directly has precipitated this rift and should forestall the bottom from getting used for these assaults. I dont assume this can finally work, and the US would in all probability simply use them anyway, however these are all attention-grabbing issues to contemplate in relation to the bottom query. It appears that the UK is now permitting using Diego Garcia for assaults on Iran, which it deems defensive though that definition consists of strikes on floor targets. The potential utility of this mannequin of handover deal, regardless of preserving the bottom open, does then appear to limit the makes use of of the bottom according to features of Mauritian sovereignty, disrupting the bases indirectly or one other, which is a giant decolonial win the left has not but absolutely grasped.
We might then conclude {that a} massive concerted worldwide marketing campaign in opposition to blatant colonial practices may very well work in damaging the effectiveness of those colonial abroad bases to some extent. Mauritius exploited the inherent contradictions between worldwide legislation on the one hand and the bases colonial nature on the opposite, to construct a marketing campaign, get nearly everybody onside, and pressure a reckoning within the worldwide courts, which is binding. So for Cyprus, though it’s a completely different state of affairs in some ways, we will see similarities, and we will be taught from whats occurred round Diego Garcia. The incontrovertible fact that the bases are a colonial relic is essential as a result of it provides our marketing campaign the leverage to say that that is clearly improper and clearly contradicts the worldwide legislation that you just, the imperial powers, arrange, and this provides us the chance to construct alliances based mostly on that. That is definitely a lot simpler and far much less radical than speaking concerning the bases function in genocide, which appears wholly exempt from the worldwide legislation system, which reveals how dehumanised Palestinians and Gaza are. The US-UK Bases Off Cyprus Campaign that CODEPINK is working has these two integral components to it, engaged on the bases in Cyprus contribution to genocide and imperial wars, and their inherent standing as a colony on occupied land. Linking these two components of the bottom query is the central level of what had been making an attempt to do and making an attempt to reveal, as a step in direction of sensible change to the bases standing.
Alfie Howis is an activist and author with CODEPINK London.
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