Sean Ash Political Rants

I may be wrong, but I genuinely think that if Russia ever escalated tensions with the UK, Trump would be the kind of leader to throw Starmer’s own words back at him, “we must act in America’s national interest first,” “we’re focusing solely on our defence strategy,” and so on.

Relationships between allies work both ways. If you publicly frame everything through a narrow national-interest lens, you can’t be surprised when others do the same. I’m not convinced Starmer has strengthened the UK’s long-term national interest as much as he believes.

And I struggle with the idea that Iran represents a greater strategic threat to Britain than Putin’s Russia.

There is no question that the reports of young Iranian girls losing their lives, in circumstances that remain independently unverified as to who is responsible, are profoundly tragic. The death of any child is devastating. No person of conscience would ever celebrate such a loss.

But we also have to hold more than one truth at once.

Even in the worst-case scenario, that a missile was knocked off course or struck the wrong target, that would be a tragic accident, not proof of intentional targeting. Tragedy does not automatically equal intent. Serious claims require serious evidence.

At the same time, some of the loudest voices expressing outrage overlook the documented human rights record inside Iran itself. Girls can legally be married at 13, and in some cases even younger with judicial approval. Thousands of underage girls have been married in recent years. The age of criminal responsibility for girls is shockingly low. Corporal punishment in the home is permitted under the law.

During protest crackdowns, minors have been detained, harmed, and in some cases killed by security forces. Human rights organisations have documented cases of children shot during demonstrations and reports of abuse in custody.

If we are going to talk about the protection of children, then we must be consistent. The primary violator of children’s rights in Iran is the Iranian regime itself.

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