Britain, France, Germany ready to take "defensive action" against Iran -- joint statement

LONDON, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Britain, France and Germany said that they are ready to take "necessary and proportionate defensive action" against Iran.

"We will take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region," said a joint statement released on Sunday, "potentially through enabling necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran's capability to fire missiles and drones at their source."

"We have agreed to work together with the U.S. and allies in the region on this matter," it added.

Also on Sunday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain has accepted the U.S. request to use British bases "for that specific and limited defensive purpose."

"Our partners in the Gulf have asked us to do more to defend them ... We have British jets in the air as part of coordinated defensive operations which have already successfully intercepted Iranian strikes," said Starmer.

However, the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source -- "in their storage depots or the launchers which used to fire the missiles," he said.

Britain was not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and will not join offensive action now, he added. Enditem