The UK military could “potentially” defend Israel against Iranian attacks, chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.
Reeves said that while the UK is calling for de-escalation in the region, it is also sending military assets, including fighter jets, “to protect ourselves and also potentially to support our allies”.
Her comments followed those of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who confirmed that the UK was sending “contingency support” to the Middle East.Starmer confirms UK has moved fighter jets to Middle East to provide ‘support’
The Chancellor told the BBC that in the past the UK has helped “defend Israel from attacks” but would not get into what could happen in the future.
Speaking to Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, the chancellor said sending military assets to the Middle East and “it is right that we send jets to protect them”.
Pushed on the question of what the UK would do if Israel asked for support with its operations, the chancellor replied: “I’m not going to rule anything out at this stage. It’s a fast moving situation, a very volatile situation. But we don’t want to see escalation.”
Also appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme Reeves said: “The thing that we have done in the past is defend Israel from attacks.
“We have never been we’ve never been involved in attacking with Israel. Those two things are very different.
“But I’m not going to comment on what may or may not happen. This is a very fast moving situation, we do believe that Israel has a right to defend itself.
“We are very concerned about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“That would be incredibly dangerous for Britain and the rest of the world if Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon, and so we share those concerns.”
The UK sending more RAF jets to the Middle East “does not mean that we are at war”, Reeves added.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride also told Trevor Phillips:”I think it’s right that the Prime Minister minister has said that fighter and refuelling planes should be sent into the region to make sure that we do what we can to protect those, given that the Iranians have said yesterday that they might be threatening them.”
