Last night Israel launched a massive wave of airstrikes against Iran with over 200 fighter jets in a “pre-emptive” attack on Iran’s nuclear programmes. Among those reportedly killed were Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami and Iran’s chief of the military staff, General Mohammad Bagheri. In retaliation, Iran launched over 100 drones toward Israel…
Tehran has promised a “harsh and decisive” response while Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.” Both the US and UK have stressed that they were not involved in the strikes. Keir Starmer posted on X:
“The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently. Escalation serves no one in the region. Stability in the Middle East must be the priority and we are engaging partners to de-escalate. Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy.”
Foreign secretary David Lammy called it a “dangerous moment” and has now cancelled his planned meeting with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington. Labour has already sanctioned two Israeli ministers this week. US and UK relations on Israel are on tenterhooks…
Lucy Powell told Sky News that the Ed Miliband-Russell Brand interview happened in part because the ‘social media age’ had not begun by 2015:
“Look, I mean, he approached the Labour Party, he approached the campaign team, and we’re in very different times now. We weren’t in the social media age at the time – where you could maybe search things up and see allegations about somebody at the time. and as I say, if there was any suggestion at all, we were dealing with someone who was a known sexual predator at the time, then, of course, you know, no one would have done that. But as I say, he was a well known public figure. Lots of people from Hollywood to the BBC to many others gave this person a very, very powerful platform. And we didn’t know at the time, unfortunately. It was a different era.”