How is the UK involved in the US-Israel war with Iran?

On 28 February, war broke out in the Middle East between the USA and Israel and Iran.

The United States and Israel launched air strikes against Iran, which in return fired missiles at Israel, and at other countries in the region with links to the US.

Since then the UK's involvement has included:

Read on to find out more about what the UK government is doing and how children in the UK and the Middle East are being affected.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that the UK is not taking part in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

After Iran responded by launching attacks on other countries, including on a British military base in Bahrain, the Prime Minister said that "we have British jets in the air" as part of a defensive operation, supporting friendly countries.

The UK has also agreed to a US request to use British military bases in the region, but only for what the Prime Minister called a "limited defensive purpose," targeting Iran's missile launchers.

A British warship is also being prepared to help protect a British military base on Cyprus, which was hit by a drone attack.

It is expected to sail there next week, and two anti-drone helicopters are due to arrive in Cyprus on Friday 6 March.

There are many children living in the UK who have a connection with Iran.

In the 2021 ONS census, which collected lots of information about people living in England and Wales, over 100,000 people said they belonged to an ethnic group that included Iranian identity.

One of them is 13-year-old Ava, who lives near Southampton.

She spoke to Newsround about how she's feeling, and explained that it has been hard to speak to her grandparents, who live in Iran, due to communication difficulties before and during the war.

However they have told her that they've had to move away from Iran's capital city, Tehran, to try to find a safer place to stay.

As well as kids in the UK, the war has impacted British children living, or holidaying, in countries near to Iran.

Many British families live in states that are Iran's neighbours - including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

Since the US-Israeli strikes began, Iran has fired missiles at these countries, due to their friendly relationship with America.

Holly, Olivia and Oscar, who live in different parts of the UAE, all told Newsround that they have seen or heard missiles, which they found worrying.

They've all started having their lessons online, rather than coming into school.

Toby, who lives in Qatar, also told Newsround that he is also not allowed outside right now and misses seeing his friends.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC there were about 300,000 British citizens in countries along the Persian Gulf, like Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

So far, more than130,000 British people there have registered for the government's help.

Due to the war, thousands of flights back to the UK, and elsewhere, have been cancelled due to the conflict, leaving many Brits stuck.

On Tuesday 3 March, the first flight chartered - or hired - by the UK government to bring people home, took off from Oman.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer also told Parliament that more than 4,000 people have arrived back in the UK on normal flights - with more standard and government flights expected to arrive in coming days.