More RAF jets are being sent to the Middle East amid intense fighting between Israel and Iran, the prime minister has said.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer said the military aircraft, including Typhoons and air-to-air refuelers, were being sent \u201cfor contingency support across the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the situation was fast-moving and there were ongoing discussions with allies, adding: \u201cThe constant message is de-escalate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK last announced it had deployed jets to the region last year, when the government said British aircraft had been playing a role in preventing escalation.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir made the remarks as he travelled to Canada for the G7 summit, where he said the weekend\u2019s \u201cintense\u201d developments would be further discussed.<\/p>\n
He later met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney \u2013 a former Bank of England governor \u2013 in Ottawa for talks on security and trade.<\/p>\n
Both will head later to the Canadian province of Alberta for the summit, with the Middle East uppermost on the agenda.<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump are among those gathering there for three days of talks.<\/p>\n
The prime minister is neither ruling in nor out the prospect of British jets helping Israel \u2013 as happened in both April and October last year.<\/p>\n
Iran has warned the UK, France and America that were they to support Israel, their ships and bases in the region would be regarded as legitimate targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already been moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support across the region,\u201d Sir Keir told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur constant message is de-escalate, and therefore everything we\u2019re doing, all discussions we\u2019re having are to do with de-escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister would not be drawn on whether the UK would be involved in defending Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a good and constructive discussion with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu yesterday [Friday], and that included discussions about the safety and security of Israel, as you would expect, between two allies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He reiterated that the UK had \u201clong-standing concerns\u201d about Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and recognised Israel\u2019s right to self-defence.<\/p>\n
Iran has threatened to target UK, French and US military bases in the region if they offer Israel help to stop Tehran\u2019s strikes.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir spoke to Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday afternoon, Downing Street said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey discussed the gravely concerning situation in the Middle East and agreed on the need to de-escalate,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Tensions between Israel and Iran have ramped up in recent days.<\/p>\n
Iran launched a fresh attack on Israel on Saturday night, while the Israeli military said it was continuing to strike military targets in Tehran.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian has threatened a \u201cmore severe\u201d response if Israel doesn\u2019t stand down. Israel\u2019s Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier warned that \u201cTehran will burn\u201d if Iran continues to launch missiles.<\/p>\n
Iranian state TV reported 60 people had been killed in a strike in Tehran, while in Israel, officials said three people had been killed and dozens injured in strikes.<\/p>\n
Washington DC and Tehran were due to resume talks on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme on Sunday, but the talks have now been cancelled, mediator Oman said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More RAF jets are being sent to the Middle East amid intense fighting between Israel and Iran, the prime minister has said. Sir Keir Starmer said the military aircraft, including Typhoons and air-to-air refuelers, were being sent \u201cfor contingency support across the region\u201d. He said the situation was fast-moving and there were ongoing discussions with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}