Defence Secretary John Healey has warned Iranian-sponsored terror attacks could target Britain as the regime “lashes out” following US and Israeli airstrikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iranian extremists could launch terror attacks on UK soil in retaliation for the US and Israeli airstrikes, John Healey has admitted. The Defence Secretary told Sky News that Iran’s crumbling leadership is “lashing out” by launching rockets and drones at civilian targets in neighbouring nations.
Mr Healey cautioned that Iranian military commanders are increasingly selecting their own targets, as disorder spreads throughout Tehran. The senior Government minister acknowledged that security chiefs will be examining whether Britain could become a target for Iranian-backed terror attacks.
Donald Trump has cautioned Iran against further reprisals for the joint US-Israeli strikes which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump warned the country that America would respond “with a force that has never been seen before”, reports the Express.
Israel and the US carried out 900 strikes in 12 hours on military installations, nuclear facilities and government buildings across Iran using F-35s, F-22s and – for the first time – one-way attack drones.
Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips asked Mr Healey: “Do you have concerns about security situation here at home? Are we, for example, going to raise the threat level?”.
Mr Healey replied: “Well, that’ll be for the Home Secretary to make any announcement on that, but I’ve got full confidence in our intelligence agencies and our ability to deal with the terror threats. They proved that in the past.”
Pushing Mr Healey for further details, Mr Phillips enquired: “But that would be under review and under discussion today, will it?”.
The Defence Secretary added: “Absolutely. When you get… When you get when you get a regime like this, lashing out inthe Middle East, indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilian as well as military targets, when you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf, then of course, our force protection in the region is at its highest. Our alert and our vigilance in the UK is also high.”
Mr Healey labelled the Iranian regime “evil”, revealing they had orchestrated 20 thwarted terror plots in the UK. He stated: “It’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring an exporting terror, including to countries like Britain.
“And the concern now, of course, is that this regime is lashing out. It’s lashing out in an increasingly indiscriminate and widespread way, and people will be really concerned that it’s not just military targets, but civilian airports like Kuwait hotels in Dubai, and Bahrain are being hit. And so that’s why we’ve strengthened the UK defences in the region.
“Twenty terror plots, directed at Britain, sponsored by Iran, tens of thousands of young people protesters, murdered on the streets in the last few months in Iran. 57,000 Iranian drones fired by Russia into Ukraine, proxy groups at destabilise countries right across the region.
“Make no mistake. This is a regime that menaces other countries, exports terror, murders its own citizens, and must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapons programme.”
Iranian revenge strikes also hit within “a few hundred yards” of British forces in Bahrain, the Defence Secretary revealed.
John Healey informed Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “This is a really serious and deteriorating situation, (with) rising risks of increasing Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks.
“Let me give you a couple examples. Yesterday, we had 300 personnel on that Bahrain base that was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones, some of them within a few hundred yards of where they landed.
“We had two missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus.
“We don’t believe they were targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless, it’s an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act.”
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