‘No assessment’ to suggest UK is being targeted by Iranian missiles, Keir Starmer says
The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said there is “no assessment” that the UK is being targeted by Iranian missiles, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed on Saturday that Tehran had weapons that could reach up to 4,000km (2,485 miles).
The IDF also said the Iranian regime posed “a global threat”, claiming Iran’s missiles “can reach London, Paris or Berlin”, without offering any evidence to back up its claim.
The IDF statement was issued after an attempted Iranian strike on the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia – in the Chagos Islands – on Thursday night into Friday morning. Diego Garcia is about 3,800km (2,360 miles) from Iran and home to an airbase capable of accommodating long-range US bombers.
Asked whether the UK was within range of Iranian missiles, Starmer told the media this morning:
We carry out assessments all the time in order to keep us safe, and there’s no assessment that we’re being targeted in that way at all.
But of course, it’s my job to ensure that British interests, British lives are always uppermost in my mind.
What we need here is de-escalation, and that’s why we had a statement from a number of countries last week about what we need to do about the Strait of Hormuz, which obviously needs careful coordination and a viable plan.
But it’s very important we defend our interests, we defend British lives, but without getting dragged into the war, and that’s the clear divide I’ve put in place.
0 Comments