With permission, Mr Speaker, I will remind the House that the Foreign Office has been responding to 2 crises this past week.
My Honourable Friend, Minister Falconer, will update on the Government’s extensive efforts to assist those who lost loved ones in Thursday’s devastating Air India plane crash.
Just 9 days ago, I was in Delhi, strengthening our friendship. Our nations are mourning together. My thoughts are with all those suffering such terrible loss.
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will now turn to the Middle East. Early last Friday morning, Israel launched extensive strikes across Iran. Targets including military sites, including the Iranian enrichment facility at Natanz, and key commanders and nuclear scientists.
The last 72 hours has seen Iranian ballistic missile and drone strikes across Israel, killing at least 21 Israelis and injuring hundreds more. And Israeli strikes have continued, including on targets in Tehran, with the Iranian authorities reporting scores of civilian casualties.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has said his operations will “continue for as many days as it takes to remove the threat”. Supreme Leader Khameini has said Israel “must expect severe punishment”.
Madam Deputy Speaker, in such crisis our first priority is of course the welfare of British nationals. On Friday, we swiftly stood up a crisis team in London and the region, and yesterday I announced that we now advise against all travel to Israel as well as our long-standing travel of not travelling to Iran.
Madam Deputy Speaker, today I can update the House that we are asking all British nationals in Israel to register their presence with the FCDO, so that we can share important information on the situation and leaving the country.
And I can announce today that we are further updating our Travel Advice to signpost border crossing points, and sending Rapid Deployment Teams to Egypt and Jordan to bolster our consular presence near the border with Israel, which has already been supporting British nationals on the ground.
Israel and Iran have closed their airspace until further notice, and our ability therefore to provide support in Iran is extremely limited. British nationals in the region should closely monitor our Travel Advice for further updates.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the situation remains fast-moving. We expect more strikes in the days to come. This is a moment of grave danger for the region.
I want to be clear, the United Kingdom was not involved in the strikes against Iran. This is a military action conducted by Israel.
It should come as no surprise that Israel considers the Iranian nuclear programme an existential threat. Khameini said in 2018 that Israel was a “cancerous tumour” that should be “removed and eradicated”.
We have always supported Israeli security – that’s why Britain has sought to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon through extensive diplomacy. We agree with President Trump when he says negotiations are necessary and must lead to a deal.
That has long been the view, Mr Speaker, of the so-called ‘E3’ – Britain, France and Germany – with whom we have worked so closely on this issue. The view of all of the G7 who have backed the efforts of President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff. And for more than 2 decades, the cross-party view in this House.
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Lord Hague of Richmond led diplomatic efforts on the issue. Baroness May of Maidenhead and the former Right Honourable Member for Uxbridge did too, and this Government has continued to pursue negotiations, joining France and Germany in 5 rounds of talks with Iran this year alone.
Ours is a hard-headed realist assessment of how best to tackle this grave threat. Fundamentally, no military action can put and end to Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Madam Deputy Speaker, just last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors passed a non-compliance resolution against Iran, the first such IAEA finding in 14 years.
The Director-General’s Comprehensive Report details Iran’s failure to declare nuclear materials. Iran remains the only state without nuclear weapons accumulating uranium at such dangerously high levels. Its total enriched stockpile is now 40 times the limit in the JCPoA, and their nuclear programme is part of a wider pattern of destabilising activity.
The Government has taken firm action in response. When they transferred ballistic missiles for use in Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, we imposed extensive sanctions including against Iran Air, and cancelled our bilateral air services agreement.
In the face of unacceptable IRGC threats here in the UK – with some 20 foiled plots since 2022 – the CPS has for the first time charged Iranian nationals under the National Security Act, and we have placed the Iranian state, including the IRGC, on the enhanced tier of the new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
Madam Deputy Speaker, a widening war would have grave and unpredictable consequences, including for our partners in Jordan and the Gulf. The horrors of Gaza worsening, tensions in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq rising, the Houthi threat continuing.
That’s why the Government’s firm view, as it was last October in the ballistic missile attack on Israel, is that further escalation in the Middle East is not in Britain’s interests, nor the interests of Israel, Iran or the region.
There are hundreds of thousands of British nationals living in the region. And with Iran a major oil producer, and one fifth of total world oil consumption flowing through the Straits of Hormuz, escalating conflict poses real risks for the global economy.
As missiles rain down, Israel has a right to defend itself and its citizens. But our priority now is de-escalation.
Our message to both Israel and Iran is clear. Step back. Show restraint. Don’t get pulled ever deeper into a catastrophic conflict, whose consequences nobody can control.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the Prime Minister chaired COBR on the situation last Friday and spoke to PM Netanyahu, President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He is now at the G7 Summit in Canada, discussing with our closest allies how to ease tensions.
And the Government has deployed additional assets to the region, including jets for contingency support to UK forces and potentially our regional allies concerned about the escalating conflict.
In the last 72 hours, my Honourable Friend the Minister for the Middle East and I have been flat out trying to carve out space for diplomacy. I have spoken to both Israeli Foreign Minister Sa’ar and Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi, underlining Britain’s focus on de-escalation.
I have also met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal. I’ve had calls with US Secretary Rubio, EU High Representative Kallas and my counterparts from France and Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. These conversations are part of a collective drive to prevent a spiralling conflict.
Madam Deputy Speaker, this new crisis has arisen as the appalling situation in Gaza continues. This weekend, hospitals in Gaza reported over 50 people were killed and more than 500 injured while trying to access food.
This Government will not take our eye off the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We will not stop calling for aid restrictions to be lifted and an immediate ceasefire. We will not forget about the hostages.
This morning, I met Yocheved Lifschitz and her family, whose courage and dignity in the face of Hamas’ barbarism was a reminder of the plight of those still cruelly held in Gaza. We will not stop striving to free the hostages and end that war.
Madam Deputy Speaker, our vision remains unchanged. An end to Iran’s nuclear programme and destabilising regional activity. Israel, secure in its borders and at peace with its neighbours. A sovereign Palestinian state, as part of the two-state solution.
Diplomacy is indispensable to each of these goals. Britain will keep pressing all sides to choose a diplomatic path out of this crisis.
I commend this statement to the House.