{"id":895087,"date":"2026-04-15T06:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/895087\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T06:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:15:32","slug":"iron-dome-over-london-to-shoot-down-missiles-may-be-needed-as-threats-from-russia-and-iran-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/895087\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Iron Dome’ over London to shoot down missiles ‘may be needed’ as threats from Russia and Iran grow"},"content":{"rendered":"

An \u201cIron Dome\u201d could be required to protect London from missile attacks, says a former UK National Security Adviser.<\/p>\n

Lord Sedwill, who also served as Cabinet Secretary from April 2018 to September 2020, stressed that Britain must boost its defences in an increasingly dangerous world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly need proper air defences,\u201d he told The Standard.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Iron Dome over the whole country is probably not practical but over key cities and military facilities could be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gulf countries have developed systems quite like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Israel\u2019s<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s \u2018Iron Dome\u2019 defence system (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The best known \u201cIron Dome\u201d is the one built by Israel<\/a> to intercept short-range rockets, shells and mortars.<\/p>\n

Defensive batteries, with three or four launchers armed with 20 interceptor missiles<\/a>, aim to down hostile projectiles at ranges of between two miles and around 40 miles from the units.<\/p>\n

Lord Sedwill\u2019s comments came after Iran<\/a> fired two missiles at the joint UK-US Diego Garcia military base, some 2,400 miles away on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

The attack failed but it sparked warnings that Tehran might now be able to hit London, as well as other European capitals.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former UK National Security Adviser Lord Sedwill (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

Both Donald Trump\u2019s administration and Israel have claimed that Tehran could now strike London<\/a>, as they seemingly sought to cajole Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s government into increasing support for the military action against Iran.<\/p>\n

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said: \u201cThey (Iran) shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000km (2,485 miles) away.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, they told the world that their missiles could only range two (thousand) kilometres (1,242 miles). Surprise. Yet again, Iran lie.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to the world. I say London is 4,000km from Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli Defence Forces stressed: \u201cWe have been saying it: The Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, with missiles that can reach London, Paris or Berlin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

Iran may now have the missile range to attack the UK (ISW)<\/p>\n

Cabinet ministers insist that a missile fired from Iran at the UK would be shot down by Nato<\/a> defences over eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

But former Armed Forces Minister Lord Spellar has warned that London is \u201cvery vulnerable\u201d to a missile attack by Iran-backed jihadists based in North Africa.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lord Sedwill, who was UK National Security Adviser from April 2017 to Sept 2020, stressed the need for the UK to rapidly invest \u201cserious\u201d money into bolstering Britain\u2019s armed forces to defend the homeland and allies under the Nato umbrella.<\/p>\n

While the focus is currently on the threat from Iran, defence ministers and other military experts say that Russia poses the greatest risk to the UK as Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime engages increasingly in \u201cgrey warfare,\u201d including targeting the UK\u2019s underwater cables and other infrastructure.<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Nato chief Lord Robertson believes Trump\u2019s war in the Middle East must be a \u201crude wake-up call\u201d for the Government to swiftly boost defence spending.<\/p>\n

He described the UK as \u201cunderprepared\u201d for war due to the \u201cever-expanding welfare budget\u201d and \u201ccorrosive complacency\u201d from Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s government.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are under attack. We are not safe,\u201d said the former Labour Defence Secretary who led the Government\u2019s Strategic Defence Review.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain\u2019s national security and safety is in peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HMS<\/p>\n

HMS Dragon leaving Portsmouth Harbour on its way to the eastern Mediterranean as the Government faced criticism over the readiness of the Royal Navy (PA Media)<\/p>\n

He accused \u201cnon-military experts in the Treasury\u201d of \u201cvandalism\u201d and said there was a gap between the Prime Minister\u2019s rhetoric on defence and the action he had delivered.<\/p>\n

Referring to Trump\u2019s criticism of Nato, the former Secretary General of the military alliance said: \u201cRecent days have shown that the role and priorities of the United States have shifted, and will never be the same again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government has committed to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2027, increasing to 3% in the next parliament and a Nato-agreed target of 3.5% by 2035.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir told MPs on Monday that the Government is working to finalise the defence investment plan but he did not want to repeat the mistakes of previous administrations because \u201cwe inherited plans that were unfunded and not deliverable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Downing Street rejected Lord Robertson\u2019s claim that national security was in peril.<\/p>\n

A Government spokesman said: \u201cWe are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review to meet the threats we face.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, with a total of over \u00a3270 billion being invested across this Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are finalising our defence investment plan that we will publish as soon as possible, putting the best kit and technology into the hands of our forces, rebuilding British industry to make defence an engine for growth and doubling down on our own commitment to Nato.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The UK is underprepared for war, says ex-Nato chief Lord Robertson pictured with Sir Keir Starmer (PA)<\/p>\n

The head of the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, told MPs: \u201cThe only thing I can say from the inside is this could not be taken more seriously at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see no sign of complacency amongst anybody that I work with or provide advice to.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch backed Lord Robertson\u2019s comments, telling BBC radio: \u201cWe used to spend one in every seven pounds on welfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s one in every three pounds and a lot of that money has basically been swapped for defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is not as peaceful as it used to be. The peace dividend that existed after the fall of the Berlin Wall is gone, we need to spend more money on defence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An \u201cIron Dome\u201d could be required to protect London from missile attacks, says a former UK National Security…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,223520,393,4884,774,1912,807,257,252534,41677,16,252533,15],"class_list":["post-895087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-cabinet-secretary","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-iran","tag-iron-dome","tag-keir-starmer","tag-london","tag-lord-robertson","tag-missile-attack","tag-uk","tag-uk-national-security-adviser","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116407260292124927","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}