US military action will 'not bring democracy to Iran', says Jeremy Corbyn as he hits out at Government's response to war
Former Labour leader and Your Party chief Jeremy Corbyn has said US and Israeli military action in Iran “will not produce democracy.”
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Speaking to LBC’s Andrew Marr, Mr Corbyn hit out at Sir Keir Starmer’s approach to the conflict, suggesting it was “unclear.”
It comes after the US and Israel launched a massive wave of strikes on Iran over the weekend, killing the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I'm quite unclear what the position actually is,” Mr Corbyn said.
“It seems to me that within a few days, should this war go on, then we will actually be as involved as anybody else.
“The Spanish government, however, have been much clearer on us. They just said, 'Absolutely no, no way.' And the US then withdrew its fighter planes from Spain and moved into Germany.”
Asked if he believes the Iranian regime that has been attacked by the US is an evil regime that has to fall, Mr Corbyn said: “I think it's got an awful human rights record, an awful record of the treatment of its people, and I hope that there is obviously a peaceful future for the Iranian people.
“What I'm not convinced of is that you're going to bomb any change out of it. That's my difference.
“Well, it doesn't seem to have had the effect that they thought it was going to have.
“And I'm not sure that the Trump regime fully understands the structure of the politics of Iran.
“It is not simple in the sense the Ayatollah is obviously known as the Supreme Leader, but there's also several parallel political structures, including the President. And it is this sort of complicated mosaic of power structures that I'm not sure people outside Iran fully understand.”
The former Labour leader also said he fears there could be nuclear consequences to the US military action.
“My darkest worries are that the bombardment of Iran gets worse. There is a bombardment of the nuclear reactor in Iran. There is a nuclear reactor. It doesn't mean they've got nuclear weapons, but there is a nuclear reactor, and Iran bombs the ammonia reactor in Israel.
“So, you end up with potentially a nuclear explosion, nuclear fallout, which would affect millions of people across the region. I think the sense of anger about this war is going to be huge, and the people that are primarily going to be blamed for this are actually the US for not being capable of seeing through negotiations that could have brought about, yes, a agreement on nuclear weapons that maybe could have ultimately helped bring about some changes in Iran.’