Sir Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, is a distinguished lawyer and, by all accounts, a man of temperate demeanour. Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is neither of these things.
The fiery Iranian has warned the UK that Iran regards its decision to let the US use British military facilities in the region as “participation in aggression”. Clearly, careful legal advice given to Sir Keir by the attorney general, Richard Hermer, to the effect that the UK is now entitled to allow the Americans to use its bases for “defensive” actions, is of no matter to Mr Araghchi.
