British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has deployed additional Royal Air Force (RAF) jets to the Middle East amidst the conflict between Iran and Israel, while urging for de-escalation.
RAF Typhoon fighter jets and air-to-air refuelling planes have been sent to the Middle East to serve as “contingency support across the region,” Prime Minsiter Starmer said while travelling to the G7 summit in Canada.
Although the British leader said that London continues to press for the situation to de-escalate, he would not rule out the Royal Air Force being used to help defend Israel from Iranian strikes, as was done in April and October of Last year, the BBC reports.
“We’ve already been moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support across the region,” Starmer said.
“Our constant message is de-escalate, and therefore everything we’re doing, all discussions we’re having are to do with de-escalation.”
The Prime Minister said that the United Kingdom has had “long-standing concerns” over the prospect of the Islamist regime in Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon and reiterated Britain’s support for Israel to defend itself.
“I 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,” Starmer said.
In turn, Tehran has threatened Western powers, including France, the United States, and the United Kingdom, that their ships and bases in the Middle East would become targets if they supported Israel militarily in the current conflict.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has advised British citizens to avoid travelling to Israel under any circumstances, given the ongoing missile attacks on the country from Iran, Sky News reports.
Britons were previously warned not to travel to Gaza, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank, but the Foreign Office has now extended the “red” classification to the rest of the country.
According to the Israeli Health Ministry, at least 15 people in the country have been killed in Iranian strikes since Friday and 385 were hospitalised since Saturday. For its part, Tehran has not provided any official casualty count other than claiming that dozens have been killed.
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