Sunak urges Netanyahu to show restraint after Iranian barrage
PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak will urge Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint in response to Iran’s missile and drone barrage amid concerns the Middle East crisis could spiral out of control.
The Royal Air Force joined allies in defending Israel, with British jets shooting down a number of Iranian attack drones.
Mr Netanyahu is considering how to respond to Tehran, with the US and UK urging calm.
In a Commons statement, Mr Sunak said he would be speaking “shortly” to Mr Netanyahu “to express our solidarity with Israel in the face of this attack and to discuss how we can prevent further escalation”.
“All sides must show restraint,” the Prime Minister said.
But with Mr Netanyahu and his war cabinet still considering the response to the attack, it looked unlikely that Mr Sunak would be able to speak to the Israeli premier yesterday.
Iran launched about 350 drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday, but the majority were intercepted before they could reach their targets.
The onslaught followed Israel’s targeting of an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria earlier this month.
Iran has been blamed for supporting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon which have targeted Israel, along with the Houthi group in Yemen which has mounted attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Mr Sunak told the Commons: “With this attack Iran has once again shown its true colours. They are intent on sowing chaos in their own backyard, on further destabilising the Middle East.
“Our aim is to support stability and security because it is right for the region and because although the Middle East is thousands of miles away, it has a direct effect on our security and prosperity at home.
“So, we’re working urgently with our allies to de-escalate the situation and prevent further bloodshed. We want to see calmer heads prevail and we’re directing all our diplomatic efforts to that end.”
The Prime Minister indicated that a diplomatic response from the UK and allies in the G7 group of leading democracies would be decided “in the coming days”.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron earlier urged Israel to be “smart as well as tough” by not escalating the conflict with Iran.
Israel should recognise Tehran’s attack at the weekend as an “almost total failure” and “think with head as well as heart” in its response, the Foreign Secretary said during a round of broadcast interviews.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there was “no doubt” the attack “has left the world a more dangerous place” and said Iran “must be wholly condemned by all”.
He said that “a full-scale conflict in the Middle East is in no-one’s interest”, adding that “it is a path that can only lead to more bloodshed, more instability and the unleashing of forces that are beyond the ability of anyone to control”.
In a rebuke to Israel, he said: “If diplomacy takes centre stage, and it must, then we also need to be clear diplomatic premises should not be targeted and attacked. That is a point of principle.”
Downing Street said there are “no current plans to publish legal advice” on the UK action, since British forces are operating within existing permissions and the defined geographic area of the Operation Shader mission.
Giving pilots permission to intercept any airborne attacks from Iran is a “common-sense measure” to ensure that drones or missiles flying at or past British aircraft could be taken out, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said, while declining to say how many were shot down by the RAF.
Lord Cameron urged Israel to be “smart as well as tough” by not escalating the conflict with Iran.
Israel should “think with head as well as heart” in its response, the Foreign Secretary said.
He confirmed that British RAF jets shot down “a small number” of drones fired by Iran in what was its first direct military assault on Israeli soil.
The Foreign Secretary told Times Radio: “The best thing to do in the case of Israel is to recognise this has been a failure for Iran.
“And so they should, as President Biden has said to them, as it were, take the win and then move on to focus on how to eradicate Hamas in Gaza and how to get those hostages free.”
He described it as a “double defeat” for Tehran, with its attack being not only “an almost total failure, but also the rest of the world can now see what a malign influence they are in the region”.
We want to see calmer heads prevail and are directing all our diplomatic efforts to that end