BORIS: WE WILL NOT LAMENT HIS DEATH PM speaks out on
killing of general as Iran offers $80m bounty for Trump
BORIS Johnson revealed he “will not lament” the death of Iran’s top military leader.
But although the Prime Minister said General Qassem Soleimani’s assassination by the US was justified, he warned that “retaliation and reprisals are in no one’s interests”. His stance comes as
Iran reportedly offered an $80million bounty on President Trump’s head.
Mr Johnson has spoken with Mr Trump and his counterparts in France and Germany – Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel – in a bid to
navigate a way through the crisis. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and his ambassadors and diplomats were working desperately to stop tensions between Washington and Tehran boiling over into war.
The PM made his call for calm after flying back from his Christmas break in the Caribbean.
It came on a day of intense activity in Iran, Iraq – where the general was killed – and the US.
Hundreds of British troops in Iraq helping train local soldiers have been ordered to switch to “force protection.” And security at the UK’s four bases in Iraq and the embassy was ramped up as well as at other bases in the region including Kuwait and Cyprus.
The Foreign Office urged Britons in Turkey and Dubai to be “vigilant” in anticipation of revenge attacks for Thursday’s drone strike at Baghdad airport.
Early yesterday, Mr Trump tweeted a warning to Tehran he was ready to hit “very hard and very fast” 52 more Iranian targets – one for every US embassy hostage taken by the
Iranians in
1979. Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister responded by saying Soleimani’s killing was a “grave breach” of international law.
Mr Zarif spoke as more than a million mourners turned out on the streets of Tehran for the procession of dead general’s coffin ahead of his funeral later this week.
Iran has reportedly now put an $80million bounty on President Trump’s head after the killing.
In neighbouring Iraq, parliamentarians passed a resolution calling for the government to expel all UK, US and other foreign troops in response to the assassination of a “guest of Iraq” on its soil as well as a key Iraqi militia leader.
Some 400 UK troops are in Iraq in the fight against IS, while the US has 5,200, prompting fears of a withdrawal that could cripple the battle against the terror group.
The PM appealed for calm last night. He said: “General Qassem Soleimani posed a threat to all our interests and was responsible for a
pattern of disruptive, destabilising behaviour in the region. Given the leading role he has played in actions that have led to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and Western personnel, we will not lament his death. “It is clear however that all calls for retaliation or reprisals will simply lead to more violence in the
region and they are in no one’s interest. We are in close contact with all sides to encourage de-escalation.”
The Cabinet will discuss the situation today and the UK’s National Security Council will meet this week. The Foreign Secretary has spoken to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Iraqi President and Prime Minister, and the foreign ministers for France,Turkey and Germany.
This week Mr Raab will meet Mr Pompeo as part of a long-planned visit to America.
The Foreign Office will update Parliament tomorrow.
Although the UK was not involved in – or consulted about – the drone execution ordered by the President, experts have warned of danger to Britons abroad.
Mr Raab is expected to be briefed today about the possibility that Iran might retaliate against the UK and its interests.
The Foreign Secretary insisted Britain was focused on restoring calm and protecting its troops and citizens in the region.
He said: “We are looking to deescalate and stabilise the situation.
“No one wants – I don’t think anyone benefits from – a war in the Middle East. The only people who would benefit would be terrorists.”
Friday’s US drone strike at Baghdad airport killed Soleimani and nine passengers, including the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s overseas clandestine and military operations, was head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force.
He was considered Tehran’s second most powerful man and integral to his country’s growing influence in the Middle East.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah
Khamenei, who enjoyed a close relationship with Soleimani, warned of “severe revenge” amid fears the country could pursue cyber attacks or launch traditional attacks on Western interests in the Middle East.
President Trump warned any attack on American interests in the Middle East would bring swift retaliation. But in a chilling response,
Iranian MP Abolfazl Abutorabi said: “This is a declaration of war, which means if you hesitate you lose.”
He added: “We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil. We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time.”
Last night local civilians were reported to have died after a missile was fired at the US embassy in Baghdad’s green zone – but missed and hit nearby apartments.
Several explosions in the area were followed by sirens.
Six rockets were believed to have been fired, shortly after the deadline from a hardline pro-Iran faction for local troops to move away from US forces. It is the 14th rocket attack on the US embassy in two months. The Foreign Office has warned BritishIranian dual nationals against travelling to Iran because they risk arrest.
Britain’s involvement is further complicated because of the case of British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in 2016 on accusations of spying.
Over the weekend, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace deployed the Royal Navy in the Persian Gulf to “take all necessary steps to protect our ships and citizens”.
HMS Montrose and HMS Defender – a Type 23 frigate and a Type 45 destroyer – have been put on standby to accompany Britishflagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Admiral Lord West – formerly the most senior officer in the Royal Navy – said it would be very difficult for Britain to stay out of a fresh conflict in the Middle East.
The naval hero said Iran viewed the US as “Great Satan” and the UK as “Little Satan”.
He said: “An attack on us [by Iran] is seen as pretty good and not just second best to the Americans.”
THE ramping-up of threats between Iran and the United States is entirely predictable and extremely disconcerting. We know what President Trump is like when he conducts his brand of foreign policy on social media and we are unsurprised when a hothead Iranian MP talks of attacking the White House.
We can only hope that cooler heads on both sides prevail but the signs are not good. The new chief military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader accuses the US of starting a war that his country does not want, blithely ignoring the fact that his predecessor was waging a proxy war for years.
So now we face the threat of British and American military personnel and contractors being targeted in the Middle East; of oil tankers being illegally seized in the Gulf; of innocent civilians being held hostage.
What’s new? Under the malign influence of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, that was already happening.
As Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says, Soleimani was a menace, a key driver behind Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism.
His successor Major General Hossein Dehghan insists Iran’s response to his death will be carried out against US military targets to have a “deterrent effect”.
He cannot seriously think it would achieve any such thing.
If it came to it, Britain would doubtless support the US in any military action but its first role in this crisis should be diplomatic.
We must do our best to de-escalate the situation because GulfWar III is not in anybody’s interests.