Hormuz plans would see RAF back to its core competency: colonial policing

As many as 8 UK typhoon fighter jets, stationed in Qatar, could patrol the skies over the Straits of Hormuz as part of maritime operations — a stark reminder of the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) continuing role as colonial air police.

UK military headquarters in Northwood, north-west London, is hosting a 30-country summit to plan for the aftermath of Trump’s unlawful war against Iran.

The summit was organised by the UK and France, another former imperial power. The plan would see typhoon jets involved in “defensive” patrols, with the UK pledging to keep the strait open after the war has ended and mine-clearance support.

Legacy media reported that:

Eight of the fast jets are currently based in Qatar and a number were active in shooting down Shahed drones in defence of allied countries in the Gulf during the 38-day war in the Middle East that followed the US-Israel attack on Iran.

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked — creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until:

… the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender.

Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket and now faces worldwide humiliation.

US doesn’t seem to care

Defence Secretary John Healey reportedly ‘dropped into’ the summit on 23 April. A joint statement with French defence minister Catherin Vautrin published that day said:

We are confident that real progress can be made. By building on our common purpose, strengthening multinational coordination and setting the conditions for effective collective action, we can help reopen the Strait, stabilize the global economy and protect our people.

It does not appear that the Trump administration is very interested in the summit. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth disparaged the meeting in a press conference in the US on 24 April, saying European leaders needed:

less fancy conferences… and get in a boat.

He added that “this is more their fight than ours.” An odd statement given the US-Israel unilaterally started the war amid negotiations with Iran which were progressing.

Colonial policing for the RAF, again

Once of the RAF’s key roles after WWI was as a colonial police force. As the RAF’s own museum states the post war era saw the RAF reduced in size.

The RAF was quickly reduced from its wartime strength of 204 squadrons to a mere 29 in March 1920. Seven existed as cadres and the remaining twenty two were under strength.

The locations of the surviving squadrons tell a story with remarkable resonance today:

Eight were in the United Kingdom, eight in India, six in Egypt, two in Ireland, two in Iraq, one in Malta, one in Palestine and one in Germany.

One of the reasons the force survived, the museum says, was that RAF leaders — like the father of modern air warfare, Hugh Trenchard — were smart political operators who quickly latched onto a new role for the service:

 and, perhaps most importantly, it was able to demonstrate the advantages of the aeroplane in providing a cheaper solution to the ever present task of pacifying rebellions in the more remote areas of the Empire.

And that is exactly what the RAF did. The RAF Museum, however, leaves out a few details. The RAF bombed Kabul in 1919, what is now Somalia in 1920, and reportedly only supply shortages stopped it using mustard gas bombs in Iraq in 1924.

During a 1925 operation in Waziristan the RAF attacked civilian settlements. They used strafing, bombing and dropped propaganda leaflets — tactics recognisable in Lebanon, Gaza and elsewhere today.

The UK plans assumes peace will be achieved, and on terms favourable to the west. That is a very optimistic outlook, with Iran showing no sign of capitulation.

Nevertheless, Typhoons have been pledged to control some of the same airspace the RAF started policing over a century ago. And the reasons aren’t too different — ensuring colonialist dominance over a region western powers are desperate to hold onto.

Featured image via the Canary