Opponents of the US-Israeli war on Iran plan to stage a protest outside a major British Royal Air Force base, calling for the closure of US bases on British soil and to "condemn Britain's participation in the war".
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Stop the War Coalition , and the Fairford Movement announced a demonstration at noon next Saturday outside RAF Fairford, located in southwest England.
The three organisations said in an official statement that the British government cannot "rule out" that bombers taking off from the base may commit war crimes.
Protesters will call on the government to "end its support for the illegal US-Israeli aggression and close the US bases in Britain used to launch attacks on Iran and its support".
Organisers urged people in Britain to participate in large numbers in the demonstration to express opposition to the war.
They published a list of bus departure points from London and other major cities, such as Bristol and Birmingham, to transport participants to the protest.
US bombers previously used RAF Fairford to launch attacks inside Iraq during its invasion and occupation in 2003. 'Complicity' The protest coincides with the United States deploying the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, three destroyers, and 5,000 additional US troops to the Middle East amid fears of a resumption of the US-Israeli war on Iran .
Reports by British anti-war organisations say the US military has long used RAF Fairford to launch devastating attacks on Iran.
Before the current ceasefire, long-range heavy bombers of the B-1, B-2 and B-52 types took off from the base to carry out strikes inside Iranian territory twice daily.
The reports say the bombers dropped 2,000-pound bombs on sites in Iran before returning directly to "Fairford".
The organisations describe the killing of thousands of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure, including bridges, hospitals, schools, and residential areas during the heavy bomber attacks, as war crimes.
RAF Fairford is not the only base used by the US military in the war on Iran, which began on 28 February 2026 in cooperation with the Israeli military.
Reports confirm the use of other British bases in the attacks on Iran, such as RAF Mildenhall, from which refuelling aircraft and logistical support flights operate.
RAF Lakenheath is also used to deploy F-35 and F-15 fighter jets, as well as A-10 anti-tank aircraft, to military bases in the region.
Despite these reports, the British government claims it is not participating in the war on Iran. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has repeatedly said Britain " has not played any role " in the strikes in the region. His government says British bases are used only to assist the US military in carrying out what it describes as defensive attacks on Iran's missile capabilities.
In a joint press statement with the Stop the War Coalition, Sophie Bolt, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said the British government is "complicit in these illegal attacks" on Iran.
"Because targets are often identified or updated while bombers are already airborne, the British government cannot be sure these aircraft are not departing to commit war crimes while they are on the runway," she said.
Bolt described Starmer's silence over indirect threats by US President Donald Trump to use nuclear weapons and his warnings of attacking civilian infrastructure in Iran as "shameful".
She said the British government's position "facilitates the commission of war crimes". She argued that the use of British military bases in the war is a "material embodiment of the British military alliance and nuclear dependence on the United States". 'Enough bombing' Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition in London, accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing war crimes "daily".
She said in the joint statement that while "Keir Starmer claims the United Kingdom is not a party to their illegal bombing of Iran, he allows US bombers to fly from RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia".
She said this "makes him directly complicit in these crimes", describing Trump as "barbaric" and calling on Starmer's government to "state this explicitly and stop allowing the United States to use its bases".
In the same statement, Chris Cole, executive director of Drone Wars UK, described US and Israeli air strikes on Iran as "blatantly illegal", noting that many, led by the UN secretary-general, have condemned them.
He criticised what he described as "British government ministers' feigning embarrassment" on television, pointing to their refusal "even to express a view on the legality of these attacks".
He affirmed the "full right of anti-war activists to go to the gates of the US base at Fairford to say loudly and clearly: enough bombing of Iran!"
The Fairford Movement is an umbrella grouping that includes the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Drone Wars UK, and the Oxfordshire Peace Campaign in southwest England, with local activists participating in its activities. Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here .