Malign Iran is menace to the world, warns Cameron

Britain won’t tolerate the escalation of Iran’s “malign” actions within the Middle East or on UK soil, Lord Cameron has warned.

In his first newspaper interview since returning to authorities, the Foreign Secretary described Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah as “proxies” for Iran who had been contributing to an “extremely high” stage of “danger and insecurity” all over the world.

In a big toughening of the UK’s method, the previous prime minister advised The Telegraph that Iran should be despatched “an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated”.

He pledged that Britain would work with allies to “develop a really strong set of deterrent measures” towards Tehran.

On Friday night time, the US pointed to intelligence exhibiting that Iran was “deeply involved” in planning Houthi assaults on business vessels within the Red Sea. The assaults are already inflicting main disruption to produce chains throughout Europe.

Lord Cameron additionally cited “more evidence” of the “unacceptable threat the Iranian regime poses to the lives of UK-based journalists” after it emerged that Iranian spies had supplied a individuals smuggler £150,000 to assassinate two information presenters at a London-based Persian language information channel.

The Telegraph can reveal that the Foreign Secretary summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat within the UK to the Foreign Office on Friday over the revelation “to make clear that these threats will not be tolerated”.

Since the beginning of final yr, there have been greater than 15 credible threats or plots by the Iranian regime to kill British or UK-based people, in line with authorities officers.

Lord Cameron’s warning to Tehran indicators rising alarm within the Government concerning the rising aggression being proven by Iran and teams seen as appearing on its behalf, each within the Middle East and all over the world, together with in Britain.

He was talking following a visit to France, Italy, Jordan and Egypt final week, throughout which he held discussions about Iran, together with in an hour-long assembly with Emmanuel Macron, the French president.

Setting out the method he intends to take to a number of coverage areas for the primary time, Lord Cameron additionally:

• Said “things have changed” since, as prime minister, he declared a “golden era” of relations with Beijing. He added: “We face a more aggressive, assertive China.”
• Pledged to “play no role” in a authorities evaluation of the sale of The Telegraph after questions over his previous hyperlinks to the United Arab Emirates.
• Acknowledged that previous “economic and other support” despatched to Gaza had been utilized by Hamas to assemble tunnels or for “worse things”, however insisted the present provides awaiting supply had been “food, water, medicine, shelter”.
• Warned that the prospect of any function for Hamas in a two-state answer should be “beyond the pale”.
• Said he anticipated the UK to spend at the least one other £2 billion subsequent yr on navy help for Ukraine, including: “I think we could potentially do better than that.”

Lord Cameron recognized “the threat of Iran” as one in every of 5 vital “crises” creating an “extraordinarily difficult time for the world”, together with the Russia-Ukraine struggle, the battle within the Middle East, terrorism and local weather change.

He stated: “Iran is a totally malign affect within the area and on this planet – there’s little question about that. You’ve obtained the Houthis, you’ve obtained Hezbollah, you’ve obtained the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq which have truly been attacking British and American bases, troops.

“And, after all, Hamas. So you’ve obtained all of those proxies, and I feel it’s extremely essential that, to begin with, Iran receives an extremely clear message that this escalation won’t be tolerated.

“Second of all, we need to work with our allies to develop a really strong set of deterrent measures against Iran, and it’s important that we do that. The level of danger and insecurity in the world is at an extremely high level compared with previous years and decades, and the Iran threat is a part of that picture.”

Lord Cameron stated he was “extremely concerned” about the Houthi assaults “because the freedom of shipping and maritime security are incredibly important not just Britain, but actually the whole world”.

Houthi rebels pledged to disrupt maritime site visitors over Israel’s bombing marketing campaign in Gaza, attacking at the least 15 service provider ships since mid-November.

Earlier this month, the previous prime minister introduced a brand new sanctions regime for Iran, which included concentrating on Tehran’s help for Hamas as a part of an preliminary wave of measures.

The UK may even ship warships to hitch Operation Prosperity Guardian, a global naval coalition being assembled by the US to assist safeguard business site visitors from assaults by Yemen’s Houthi motion.

But Lord Cameron’s warning suggests Britain is ready to take additional motion, together with new sanctions, if the escalation of assaults by Iran and its proxies continues. Asked whether or not there have been different measures, along with sanctions, that may very well be deployed now, he stated: “Not for public consumption.”

He added: “I think the first thing to do is to get Operation Prosperity Guardian under way, which we’re taking part in, and the second thing to do is a very clear warning to the Houthis and to their Iranian backers that we’re not going to tolerate these continued attacks on shipping.”