IRAN: UK Support To US Is Act Of AGGRESSION

April 1, 2026·1 hr 4 min·5 clips

Declassified UK's Phil Miller exposes B-1 bombers and 2,000-pound bombs at a British base used for US strikes on Iran.

Novara Live examines the UK's growing entanglement in the US-led war against Iran, with host Michael Walker interviewing Declassified UK editor Phil Miller and Bourse and Bazaar CEO Esfandiar Batman-Helich. The episode opens with Iran's foreign minister warning UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper that allowing American forces to use British bases makes the UK a participant in aggression. Downing Street maintains that bases are being used only for defensive purposes, but Declassified UK's investigation at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire found B-52s and roughly a quarter to half of the US B-1 fleet stationed there, along with 2,000-pound bombs visible around the airfield. The base's perimeter had been covered with tarpaulin to prevent public observation. Phil Miller explains that RAF Fairford is reportedly the only US airbase in Europe with a runway long enough for B-1 bombers, while the British base at Diego Garcia has the runway length needed for B-2 stealth bombers used for deep strikes inside Iran. American bomber sorties from RAF Fairford route through the Atlantic and Mediterranean rather than over European airspace because France and other countries have restricted overflight. When asked how the UK polices what the Americans do from these bases, Miller reports that the Ministry of Defence refused to say whether it approves target lists before sorties, audits strikes afterward, or monitors civilian casualties. A YouGov poll found 50% of the public opposed allowing US strikes from British bases, with only 13% strongly supporting it. The Green Party's MPs and peers wrote to Starmer demanding withdrawal of US base permissions, an end to arms sales to Israel, and sanctions on officials responsible for breaches of international law. The episode notes that the UK expanded base permissions to include strikes on Iranian capabilities targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Batman-Helich discusses Trump's reported plans to seize Kharg Island, which processes 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. He argues that American policymakers misunderstand Iran's economy in two ways: Iran has a diversified non-oil industrial sector that can sustain it through reduced oil revenue, and Iran's military expenditure is only $8 billion annually, or about $90 per citizen, meaning it could double military spending by finding a relatively modest additional amount. Iran's drone-based warfare is far cheaper than the conventional capabilities deployed by the US and Israel. Batman-Helich warns that targeting Iran's industrial infrastructure rather than trade flows could shorten the war but intensify it, noting that Iran's retaliatory strike on a Qatar LNG facility already knocked 17% of the world's most important LNG facility offline. A field report from Stephen Mathen in Havana covers the US energy embargo of Cuba and the Nuestra America flotilla organized by Progressive International to break it. The report traces Cuba's decades-long solidarity with Palestine, from Che Guevara's 1959 visit to Gaza through training 300 Palestinian doctors at Cuban universities. The episode closes with a preview of Novara Media's new show Do Your Own Research, featuring discussion of Elon Musk's plan to launch up to one million satellites and the potential for monopoly control of low Earth orbit through the merged SpaceX-xAI entity, now valued at $1.25 trillion.

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