Richard Shirreff
 Richard Shirreff    ( Soldier, General) | ||||||||||||||
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| Born | 21 October 1955 Kenya Colony | |||||||||||||
| Member of | The Alphen Group | |||||||||||||
UK General who was Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe 2011-2014
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Sir Richard Shirreff is a UK General who was Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The BBC and others periodically invite him onto their programs to comment on current politics and military developments.
Contents
US/Israeli strikes on Iran
On 5 March 2026, General Sir Richard Shirreff spoke to Sky News about the US/Israeli strikes on Iran, launched on 28 February 2026. He warned that the Americans’ lack of strategy could have far-reaching consequences for anyone who gets involved.
Trump has lashed out at Keir Starmer after the prime minister hesitated over US requests to use British military bases to attack Iran.
The UK has since granted access for “limited” and defensive American strikes – and Iran has subsequently hit RAF Akrotiri, an RAF base in Cyprus.
Sir Richard suggested to Sky News that it was not wise for Britain to get involved in the war. He said any idea of a “special relationship” between the UK and US does not exist, adding:
“It is a complete fantasy. America does what America wants to do and Britain’s got to look after its interests.”
“Britain shooting drones, Britain engaging in offensive or defensive operations is invidious, frankly. We should not in any way, shape or form, be involved with the Americans closely because they are being led by a couple of gung-ho nutters, like Trump and Hegseth, without a proper strategy, without serious thought about what end-state for this war is.
“Unless we keep cool heads, as the prime minister is attempting to do, and think things through very very carefully this thing could go in the way of Iraq.
“Yet again we have an American president who has gone to war, a war of choice, a war of hubris frankly, without any clear idea of how the war ends, without a clear strategy.
“The Americans might be getting frightfully excited about sinking submarines, X number of missions bombing the Iranians to bits, but unless there’s a strategy, unless they have thought about what they are doing on the minds of the Iranian people, this thing is going to go south very quickly.
“The idea of assassinating Ayatollah Khamenei, not just Iran’s head of state but the religious symbol for Shiites worldwide during the month of Ramadan, is about as subtle as murdering the Pope on the steps of St Peter’s during holy week.
“It will enflame the Shiite world and what you’re doing by doing that is probably putting large numbers of Iranians who might have been reconcilable back into the folds of the irreconcilable.”[1]
Sky News interview
“General Sir Richard Shirreff, NATO's former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, discusses the US strategy in the Iran war:
“The UK should not, in any way, shape or form, be involved with the Americans because they are being led by a couple of gung-ho nutters like Trump and Hegseth without a proper strategy and without serious thought about what the end state for this war is.
"Yet again we have an American president who has gone to war, a war of choice, a war of hubris frankly, without any clear idea of how the war ends and without any clear strategy….
"This thing is going to go South very, very quickly.
"As the Chinese philosopher, master of war and strategist, Sun Tzu, said two and a half thousand years ago: 'Tactics Without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat'.”
Richard Shirreff (5 March 2026) [2]
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| Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff on The Fourcast |
The Fourcast
On 6 March 2026, in the latest episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy was joined by General Sir Richard Shirreff, NATO’s former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Chimène Keitner, who was a legal advisor in Obama and Trump’s administrations, and former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz, who worked in the National Security Council in Trump’s first administration and is now vice-chairman of the America First Policy Institute.[3]
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
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| GLOBSEC/Forum/2023 | 29 May 2023 | 31 May 2023 | Slovakia Bratislava | Yearly spooky conference in Slovakia. Only panel speakers are known. |
