The Prime Minister has said that more RAF warplanes will be sent to the Middle East following Tehran’s threat to attack the UK’s military airbases and ships should they get involved with Israel attacking Iranian nuclear sites.
France and the US has also been sent the same warning on Saturday and Iran’s state run news agency Fars reported strikes on Israel “will continue” and American bases in the region will be attacked.
Iran’s state-owned Mehr News Agency issued a grave warning, “Any country that participates in repelling Iran’s attacks on Israel will be subject to Iranian forces targeting all regional bases of the complicit government, including military bases in the Persian Gulf countries and ships and naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.”
Sir Keir Starmer said the UK is sending more military assets to the Middle East to provide “contingency support” as conflict between Iran and Israel ramps up.
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The Prime Minister has refused to rule out entering the conflict, he insisted that is will continue to press for peace.
Starmer said, “These are obviously operational decisions and the situation is ongoing and developing and therefore I’m not going to get into the precise details, but we are moving assets, we’ve already been moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support across the region. So that is happening.”
The Prime Minister added, “Our constant message is de-escalate, and therefore everything we’re doing, all discussions we’re having are to do with de-escalation.”
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls from world leaders to de-escalate insisting their attacks on Iran is “nothing compared to what they will feel under the sway of our forces in the coming days.”
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told Sky News sending RAF warplanes to the region “does not mean that we are at war.”
Sky News asked the Chancellor, does it mean the UK is at war as the Prime Minister will send more RAF assets to the Middle East.
The Chancellor said, “No, it does not mean that we are at war.
“And we have not been involved in these strikes or this conflict, but we do have important assets in the region and it is right that we send jets to protect them and that’s what we’ve done.
“It’s a precautionary move.”
The UK’s Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said that Israel’s air strikes on Iran is “quite reasonable” if intelligence is correct in identifying Tehran was days away from building a nuclear weapon.
Stride told the BBC, “On the basis that the intelligence was they were driving towards a nuclear device – I think it’s quite reasonable to make sure that that does not happen.”
He added, “We cannot allow a situation where Iran is able to become a nuclear power – that is something that would need to be stopped.”
