Tyche is launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon from California (Photo: SpaceX)
The UK government has played a quiet intelligence role in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran, satellite data analysed by Declassified suggests.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) sent its first earth imaging satellite, named Tyche, into space in August 2024.
The satellite can obtain images with a 90cm resolution within a 5-kilometer imaging swath, enabling the identification of military targets with high resolution.
“The washing machine-sized spacecraft will have sufficient resolution to identify battlefield troop positions and vehicles”, the BBC reported.
Analysis of Tyche’s recent movements indicates the satellite increased passes over Iran before the Twelve-Day War last June as well as the latest conflict.
While the MoD says Tyche’s orbit has not been deliberately altered, the number of passes over Iran spiked from 12 in April last year to 39 in May and 50 in June, representing an overall increase of over 300%.
Passes over Iran declined between July and September before increasing again in October to 55, reaching an all-time high of 69 in December and remaining elevated during the 2026 war.
The satellite also passed over some military targets in Iran shortly before they were attacked by the US or Israel.
The information suggests Britain has played a more active intelligence role than ministers admit, and appears to further challenge the government’s claim of only “defensive” participation.
An MoD spokesperson refused to say whether British satellite imagery over Iran had been shared with the US or Israel, citing “intelligence” reasons.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Iran’s Foreign Minister has warned Yvette Cooper in a phone call that allowing US use of UK bases is considered as British “participation in aggression”.
Green MPs and peers have written to Keir Starmer expressing alarm at the UK’s involvement in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran and pressing the Prime Minister to answer a number of urgent questions – including what control, if any, the UK has over US strikes launched from British bases and whether British-made weapons components are being used in breach of international law.
They note that the UK is obliged under international law to have no involvement in illegal military action, including the use of UK bases and UK-made weapons, and reiterate demands for an end to all UK complicity in this illegal war.
FULL TEXT OF LETTER
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing as Green Party MPs and Peers to express our alarm at the UK’s involvement in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran.
Already well over 1,000 civilians have been killed, including a reported 168 children killed by a missile now widely believed to be from the United States (Guardian, 2026). UNICEF has reported that the Israeli military’s assault on Lebanon is killing or injuring the equivalent of one classroom of children every day (Reuters, 2026).
In addition to the grave humanitarian impacts, the longer this illegal, unnecessary war continues, the greater the global economic fallout – to which the UK is particularly exposed because it remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
In light of this, there are urgent questions your government must answer:
What steps, if any, is your government taking to ensure that B-1 and B-52 bombers taking off from RAF Fairford are being used for ‘specific, limited defensive purposes’ – as you committed to?
What assessment have you made, if any, of how many Iranian civilians have been killed by US bombing missions from British air bases?
Are target lists for US strikes from British soil approved by the Ministry of Defence before each mission or audited afterwards?
Is the US being permitted to load banned cluster munitions at British bases?
What assessment has the government made of the risk of UK-made weapons components being used in violation of international law in Iran, including in the Tomahawk missile systems which may have been involved in the strike on the Shajareh Tayyerbeh girls’s school which killed a reported 168 children and 14 teachers, in the single deadliest known attack so far?
What assessment has the government made of the risk of UK-made weapons components being used by the Israeli government in violation of international law in Lebanon?
The UK is obliged under international law to have no involvement in illegal military action, including the use of UK bases and UK-made weapons. It is therefore of the utmost importance that these questions are answered as a matter of urgency.
This illegal war is inflicting untold suffering and devastation in the region and will cause huge and long lasting human, political, economic and environmental ramifications, as well as the immediate impact on the cost-of-living for our constituents. We, as Green Party MPs and Peers, reiterate our calls for the UK government to:
Withdraw all permission for the US to use UK military bases for attacks on Iran.
End all arms sales to and military cooperation with the Israeli government.
Impose sanctions on government officials responsible for breaches of international law.
Condemn the actions of Trump and Netanyahu for their flagrant violations of international law.
Refuse any further complicity in this illegal war.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Ellie Chowns MP
Carla Denyer MP
Siân Berry MP
Hannah Spencer MP
Adrian Ramsay MP
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
