A hulking gray military plane swooped low over green fields and quaint stone cottages as it came in to land at R.A.F. Fairford, a British base in a quiet corner of southern England.
The aircraft, a U.S. C-130 Hercules, was one of several American planes that landed here last week, including B52 and B-1 bombers that were loaded with munitions before setting off on missions to Iran.
For many Britons, the air traffic has brought back memories of the ill-fated invasion of Iraq in 2003, when R.A.F. Fairford was also used for U.S. operations and became the site of long-running antiwar protests. Several local residents last week expressed deep ambivalence over any British involvement in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, reflecting a broader national mood in this new era of American hard power.
“There is no appetite for this,” said Dawid Akala, 29, who was reading on a bench in the nearby town of Fairford. “My generation, we are disillusioned with America. And the question is, why are we, as the U.K., so deferential?”
In fact, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s wary stance on the war has already soured his previously cordial relationship with President Trump. Mr. Starmer rejected a U.S. request to use British bases for the initial strikes on Iran, and refused to join the offensive, provoking angry social media posts from the president.
Mr. Starmer modified his stance after Iran conducted drone strikes on British allies across the Middle East, saying that the United States could use R.A.F. Fairford and Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-U.K. base in the Indian Ocean, but only for “defensive” purposes. That was not enough to placate Mr. Trump, who vowed, “We will remember,” when speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
Even the limited use of British air bases has left many in the country feeling trepidation about a conflict that has rapidly engulfed the Middle East, shaken the global economy and pushed up energy prices.
Opinion polls in Britain suggest widespread skepticism about the war, with 59 percent of those surveyed by YouGov saying that they were opposed to the U.S.-Israeli attacks, and a large majority — 69 percent — of respondents to a Survation poll indicating Britain should either remain neutral in the conflict or actively oppose it.
Mr. Starmer has sought to reassure the country, saying on Monday: “We will not be drawn into the wider war,” and repeatedly referencing lessons from the war in Iraq. It was another Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, who sent British troops into Iraq to support President George W. Bush’s invasion — a decision that led to Mr. Blair being described in Parliament as Mr. Bush’s “poodle.”
Mr. Starmer, who publicly opposed the Iraq war, acknowledged that he had been “attacked by some” for not joining the offensive against Iran.
“At every stage I have stood by my principles, principles which I held just as strongly when it came to the debate about the Iraq war in 2003, principles which I believe are shared by the British people,” he said.
The history of U.S.-British cooperation at Fairford runs deep. The station opened in preparation for D-Day in 1944. With a runway more than 9,990 feet long, it is one of only a few European airfields that can be used by heavy U.S. bombers.
Roz Savage, the local member of parliament, said there was a sense of local pride in the base. But in the days since the strikes on Iran, some constituents had contacted her office, she said, fearing for their safety. While she is reassured that Fairford is beyond the range of Iranian drones and bombers, she has concerns about the potential for a blurring of lines between defensive and offensive actions.
“When defensive means actually attacking Iran’s factories producing weapons, that looks pretty offensive to me,” said Ms. Savage, a member of the centrist Liberal Democrat party. “And I don’t know where you draw the line on that.”
The United States European Command, which oversees American military activity in the region, declined to answer questions about the number of aircraft at R.A.F. Fairford or their missions, citing operational security, but said in a statement that Fairford and other bases “routinely host transient U.S. military aircraft (and personnel).”
The Liberal Democrats have called for a parliamentary debate about what Britain’s involvement will be. Ms. Savage said that an overall lack of clarity about the objectives of the war had raised alarm.
“If President Trump is talking about how they will continue attacking until the job is complete, and we don’t know what the job is, how do we know when it’s complete?” Ms. Savage asked.
Some Britons agree with President Trump’s strikes on Iran, including Clive Brown, 66, who had traveled to Fairford from his home in Gloucester on Tuesday to see the airfield in action.
“I am not happy with the way our government has treated Donald Trump,” Mr. Brown said. “We don’t have to go in all guns blazing, but we should have provided him with more backup, more support.”
Alongside the runway, dog walkers passed by television crews and amateur plane spotters. David McGill, 70, an aircraft enthusiast who regularly photographs planes coming into Fairford, said he remembered plane spotting here two decades ago during the war in Iraq.
“People have complained about them using here, but the Americans have been using Fairford for donkey’s years, so what’s the difference?” he said. Still, he disagrees with President Trump’s approach, the impact of which people in the U.K. are already feeling as fuel prices rise.
Mr. McGill said he had already noticed the cost of diesel for his car had increased and the price of the heating oil for his home had spiked.
Iran has warned Britain to stay out of the conflict. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman told Times Radio on Sunday that while it did not consider itself at war with Britain, any country joining the military efforts would be seen as taking part in the “war of aggression.” Even before the war, intelligence officials had warned of a rising threat from Iranian espionage and assassination squads on British soil.
“It is scary to a certain extent,” said Katie McMahon, 30, a Fairford resident. “But I think it is no more scary here than anywhere else in the U.K. Ultimately, if we are a target, the entirety of the U.K. becomes a target.”
Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London.
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