Britain is moving combat jets and other military aircraft to the Middle East just hours after Iran threatened to strike UK military bases in the region.
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the military build-up yesterday as he revealed he had urged Binyamin Netanyahu to avoid a full-scale war with Tehran.
However, Starmer refused to say whether Britain would assist Israel in shooting down Iranian missiles.
Speaking on his way to the G7 summit in Canada, which starts on Sunday, he said: “We are moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support in the region. I will be clear-eyed in relation to our duties and obligations, and my duties as the prime minister of the United Kingdom.”
The UK has so far not been involved in defending Tel Aviv, despite having previously done so when Tehran sent missile barrages at the city in April and October last year.
• Matthew Syed: Israel knows what we won’t accept: the mullahs want nuclear war
As Israel and Iran continued to trade missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, Netanyahu claimed to have established air dominance over Tehran after his air force knocked out dozens of air defence systems.
In a statement on Saturday night, Netanyahu said: “In the very near future, you will see Israeli planes, the Israeli air force, our pilots, over the skies of Tehran.” He also claimed Tehran was planning to give nuclear weapons to its “terrorist proxies”, an act that would “threaten the entire world”.
After a round of calls with world leaders, including President Trump, Starmer said there was now “widespread concern” about the conflict spreading.
A number of Eurofighter Typhoons are being sent to the region
MARK COSGROVE/NEWS IMAGES
The Ministry of Defence is sending an unspecified number of Eurofighter Typhoons to the region, as well as several Voyagers, which are air-to-air refuelling tankers. The UK already has a number of Typhoons and at least one Voyager stationed in Cyprus, where they have been used in strikes on Isis militants as part of Operation Shader.
Downing Street sources said the deployment of extra combat aircraft was a precautionary measure, but the decision to bolster the UK’s military presence in the region is a clear sign that ministers increasingly fear the Israel-Iran conflict could soon drag in Israel’s western partners.
• ‘Unreliable’ UK not told in advance about Israel’s attack on Iran
Starmer’s announcement came just hours after Iranian media reported that Tehran had warned the US, the UK and France that it would strike their military bases and naval vessels in the region if they chose to defend Israel against its retaliatory strikes.
In other developments:
• UK security chiefs are on alert for retaliation by Iran, or its proxies, against British interests abroad, as well as attacks on UK soil, including by lone activists.
• Three people have been killed and dozens injured in Israel, and Iran has reported 78 deaths and 320 wounded in strikes.
• A member of the Iranian parliament suggested Tehran could close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping lane whose closure would escalate tensions with the US and other western nations.
• Oman’s foreign minister confirmed that Iran had formally pulled out of planned talks on Sunday with the US over its nuclear programme.
• In London protesters demonstrating against Israel’s strikes on Iran were seen holding placards calling for Hamas and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to be de-proscribed by the UK government as terrorist groups.
The US has already confirmed its involvement in helping to intercept Iranian drones and missiles aimed at Israel over recent days.
The UK has a number of airbases and military facilities dotted across the Middle East, including in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Its main operating base in the region is RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The island is also home to extensive UK and US listening and intelligence facilities. All are believed to be in range of Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles, which are harder to intercept than cruise missiles because of their trajectory.
An injured man has his head bandaged at a site south of Tel Aviv hit by a missile fired from Iran
JOHN WESSELS / AFP
The UK’s primary defence against them is its fleet of Type 45 destroyers, which are equipped with Sea Viper, an anti-air missile system.
While Starmer has not yet redeployed any naval assets to the region, at least one Type 45 destroyer is nearby in the Indo-Pacific area as part of the UK’s carrier strike group tour and could be redirected.
Before the G7 summit, Starmer said “intense discussion” would continue as world leaders gathered in the Canadian Rockies for the two-day meeting. He added that Britain’s “constant message is de-escalation”.
The foreign secretary, David Lammy, has “spoken to the Iranians” to deliver a similar message, Starmer said, adding: “Everything we’re doing — all discussions we’re having — are to do with de-escalation.”
The prime minister said a discussion with Netanyahu had been “good and constructive”. He added: “We do have longstanding concerns about the nuclear programme that Iran has. We do recognise Israel’s right to self-defence but I’m absolutely clear that this needs to de-escalate. There’s a huge risk of escalation for the region, and more widely, in terms of conflict.”
In a call with Trump on Friday night, Starmer said he had discussed “what the possible routes to de-escalation are given the situation we find ourselves in”.
The prime minister said: “There’s a widespread concern about escalation. Everybody can see what’s going on and [the impact] it can have on the region and beyond the region is obvious. The levels of concern are very high, as you might imagine. Finding a route to de-escalation is hugely important, challenging though it is, so that’s what I talked to President Trump about.”
Starmer refused to say whether Israel had informed Britain about its attacks in advance, or if he had been warned by the US. It is understood the UK had not been notified, having sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers just days beforehand. “I’m not going to get into precisely what we knew, because it’s a constant flow of information between our allies, and between us and the US,” Starmer said.
Back in London, the Israeli embassy in Kensington, west London, has been temporarily closed and Netanyahu’s government has advised citizens overseas to “avoid displaying Jewish or Israeli symbols in public spaces”.
While an Iranian-directed attack in the UK is not thought to be imminent, security officials believe a lone “angry anti-Israel” activist could choose to take matters into their own hands and attempt an attack.
The Foreign Office has warned British tourists and expatriates in the Middle East and North Africa to be vigilant. Its travel advisory for countries in the area states: “Ongoing hostilities in the region and between Israel and Iran could escalate quickly and pose security risks for the wider region.” Britons in Cyprus, home to the RAF’s main airbase for Middle East operations, have received the same warning.
Craig and Lindsay Foreman, a British couple, both 52, who were detained in Iran in January on spying charges after they entered the country as part of a round-the-world motorbike trip, are still believed to be in custody there.