GULF ON BRINK OF WAR AS P.M. STAYS ON HIS SUNBED
Politicians demand response from No10
Chillaxing Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained on his paradise holiday as his own Government placed restrictions on Middle East travel because of the new Persian Gulf crisis.
A second day of furious protest following the killing of Qassem Soleimani centred on the controversial Iranian General’s funeral in Baghdad, Iraq.
Rockets were fired near the US Embassy in the same city yesterday afternoon but did not cause injury.
Billboards appeared showing Soleimani and carrying the warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that “harsh revenge” awaits the US.
Iran has vowed retaliation, raising fears of an all- out war, and protesters had burned Union Jacks alongside US flags on Friday in the capital, Tehran.
Despite the growing tension, the PM refused to cut short his holiday and had said nothing about the deepening crisis by late last night.
Instead, he continued his luxury New Year break with girlfriend Carrie Symonds on the island of Mustique.
Johnson’s decision to lie low on holiday was criticised by opposition politicians.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana said: “Boris Johnson was last seen on December 28 on a plane to Mustique to spend the New Year at a £20,000-a-week villa.
“We are yet to hear from him on US-Iran and where the British government stands on this.
“If you have info on the PM’s whereabouts, please let the country know.” Meanwhi le,
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded an urgent meeting with him to discuss the growing crisis.
Corbyn wrote to the PM cal ling for an urgent meeting of the Privy Council, the group that advises monarchs. The outgoing Labour leader wanted to know if the assassination had heightened the terror risk to the UK and whether the Government.
He had earlier called on ministers to stand up to the US’s “belligerent actions and rhetoric” and “urge restraint” from both aggressors.
While Johnson continued to enjoy the sunshine, the Foreign Office strengthened its warnings over travel to Middle East nations.
British nationals are advised not to travel to Iraq, apart from essential travel to its Kurdistan
Region, while all but essential travel to Iran is warned against.
The guidance was bolstered on Saturday after the US announced it was sending nearly 3000 extra troops to the region after Donald Trump authorised the killing of Soleimani.
Top-flight Scots football clubs Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers were yesterday continuing to monitor the situation ahead of planned winter break training camps in Dubai later this week.
Foreign Secretary Dominic
Raab said the updated advice was issued due to “heightened tensions in the region” and would be kept under review.
He added: “The first job of any Government is to keep British people safe.”
Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, was killed in an air strike early on Friday near Baghdad airport.
The attack caused regional tensions to soar. President
Trump said he ordered the strike to prevent a conf lict as his admini s t rat ion bel ieves Soleimani was plotting a series of attacks that endangered American troops and officials.
Mourners yesterday carried Iraqi f lags and the f lags of Iran-backed militias that are fiercely loyal to Soleimani.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior Iraqi militia commander, was killed in the same strike.
The procession began at the Imam Kadhim shr ine in
Baghdad, one of the most revered sites in Shiite Islam.
Protesters marched in the streets alongside militia vehicles.
The mourners, many of them in tears, chanted: “No, No, America,” and “Death to America, death to Israel”.
Two helicopters hovered over the march, which was attended by Iraqi PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi and leaders of Iran- backed militias. One march er, Mohammed Fadl said the funeral was an expression of loyalty to the dead men.
He said: “It is a painful strike, but it will not shake us.”
Iraq, which is closely allied with both Washington and Tehran, condemned the air strike and called it an attack on its national sovereignty.
The Iraqi Parliament is to meet for an emergency session on Sunday, and the government has come under mounting pressure to expel the 5200 American troops based in the country, who are there to help prevent a resurgence of Islamic State.
Hadi al-Amiri, who heads a large parliamentary bloc and is expected to replace al-Muhandis as deputy commander of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Iranbacked militias, was among those paying their final respects.
Speaking beside al-Muhandis’s coffin, he warned: “Rest assured, the price of your pure blood will be the exit of US forces from Iraq forever.” In
London, L abou r ’ s John McDonnell condemned the Government’s response to “this act of aggression, this escalation towards war” when he joined protesters outside Downing Street.
The Shadow Chancellor told the crowd with the Stop the War Coalition: “It was acts like this that led us to the catastrophic war in Iraq.
“It’s so easy to happen as a result of the foreign policy of aggressive imperialism that the US now has resorted to yet again under Donald Trump.
“And it’s not good enough for the UK Government just to appeal for a de- escalation.
“What we expect the UK Government to do is to come out in total and outright condemnation of this act of violence.”
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt described an “incredibly dangerous game of chicken” between the US and Iran, which have simmered since Trump tore up a nuclear deal between the nations.
Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the tensions created a “very difficult situation” for the UK as a US ally, adding Britain “cannot afford to be neutral”.
But he added: “This is a very, very risky situation, and I think the job that we have to do as one of the US’s closest allies is to use our influence to argue for more consistent US policy.”
Hunt said the failure on the part of Trump to notify the UK of the planned attack was “regrettable” because allies should ensure “there are no surprises in the relationship”.