Britain is no longer watching the Iran conflict from a safe distance, we are now inside it, just not in the way the public expect.

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This isn’t about suicide bombers or mass-casualty attacks on British streets. The real threat is slower, quieter and far more persistent, a campaign of cyber disruption, drone incidents and economic pressure designed to chip away at daily life and erode confidence over time.

And it’s already started. The shift became unmistakable after Iran fired missiles towards the joint US-UK base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, a direct strike against a facility used by British forces.

Neither missile hit, but the message did. Britain is now firmly within Tehran’s targeting calculus.

That warning has been reinforced diplomatically. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper that allowing the US to use British bases amounts to “participation in aggression”, adding that Tehran “reserves its inherent right” to respond.

Downing Street insists the UK is not involved in offensive operations.........

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