US and Israel haven’t any reply to Iran’s ‘predictable’ response to Khamenei’s dying with Middle East being dragged into ‘unsustainable’ drone warfare, skilled claims

Iran has dragged the world into an unsustainable war where ‘$1million air defence missiles shoot down $1,000 drones’, a leading military expert claimed today.

Lord Ricketts said the Iranians were running an ‘asymmetric attack’ on Gulf oil sites and the Strait of Hormuz because they have no match for US and Israeli airpower.

The former national security adviser from 2010 to 2012 told how the ‘curve of the war is still upwards’ and he cannot see a de-escalation towards a ceasefire.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer will face questions in the Commons over his decisions on the conflict, after Donald Trump unleashed fresh criticism of the Prime Minister.

The President said Sir Keir was ‘not Winston Churchill’ in a new rebuke after the UK did not allow US planes to launch their initial strikes against Tehran from British bases.

Sir Keir also said Britain would send HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers, to defend Cyprus after RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone.

America and Israel have continuing to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday – while Tehran and its allies have retaliated against Israel, neighbouring Gulf states and oil and gas production facilities.

Asked how long he expected the conflict in the Middle East will last, Lord Ricketts told Sky News today: ‘At the moment it’s still expanding. I think the curve of the war is still upwards and I can’t yet see the plateaux or the de-escalation towards a ceasefire.

‘The Iranians have done exactly what we all expected in wargaming an Iran crisis. They’ve no match for the airpower of the Americans and the Israels, so they’re doing an asymmetric attack on the Gulf oil installations, Straits of Hormuz.

‘They’re bringing the world into the crisis. Predicted and predictable, and yet I don’t think the Americans and Israelis have an answer to it. So right now, I don’t see the de-escalation coming.’

Lord Ricketts was also asked whether he thought the Iranians had bigger weapons to use at a later date, and replied: ‘I think they’re probably holding back some of their most sophisticated missiles, yes, but they’ve also got huge stocks of drones.

‘If we’re in a game where $1million air defence missiles shoot down $1,000 drones, that is not sustainable in the longer-term, either for the Israelis or the Americans.’

The war between Iran and the US, now in its fifth day, will likely dominate the agenda when Sir Keir enters the Commons at noon today for Prime Minister’s Questions.

Mr Trump has said he is ‘not happy’ with the UK after it did not initially allow the US to use its bases for strikes on Iran, later adding in the Oval Office yesterday: ‘This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.’

Downing Street has insisted the US remains a ‘staunch’ ally despite the repeated broadsides from Mr Trump.

Sir Keir decided on Sunday that UK bases, including the joint UK-US Diego Garcia site in the Chagos Islands and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, could be used in the conflict, but only so the US can strike defensively to protect countries being targeted by Tehran.

Asked about the significance of Mr Trump’s comments for US-UK relations, Lord Ricketts told Sky News: ‘Honestly I don’t think we should stress too much about one throwaway comment from Trump. When he’s annoyed, he reaches for the most wounding thing he can think of saying.

‘It’s crass, it’s completely unfair given that the UK is doing more to support the Americans than any other European country. There are no American planes taking off from German air bases to strike, and yet [Friedrich] Merz seemed to get the credit in the White House yesterday.

‘British planes are intercepting missiles around the Gulf, Germans are not. Chancellor Merz was at the table, therefore the President was schmoozing him. Honestly I think this will blow over. I think when Trump learns what Britain is actually doing, things will return.’

He added that the ‘special relationship has always been more special from the UK side than from the American side’, but the two militaries were ‘still working very closely together’.

It comes as HMS Dragon is being readied to depart for the Mediterranean and will be accompanied by two Wildcat helicopters equipped with so-called ‘drone busting’ Martlet missiles, so it can protect Britain’s bases in Cyprus.

Lord Ricketts also said the UK was ‘deeply intertwined with the Americans’ for military purposes and he felt Sir Keir was handling the situation ‘well – but I really worry that I don’t see at the moment how this war ends’.

He also called on the Government to ‘ramp up defence spending quickly’, adding: ‘We are caught short and the world is not going to get any more calm in the coming months and years.

‘I think it’s really important now that the government spends more, spends smartly, and we learn the lessons from Ukraine and now also from the Middle East on the importance of drones, of a completely network military. We’ve got an awful lot more to do to get to the more resilient place we need to be in that new world.’

Meanwhile a Government charter flight will be available this evening for British nationals wanting to leave Oman amid the conflict in the region.

The Foreign Office said the flight will depart the country’s capital, Muscat, at 7pm and is available for British nationals, their partners and children under 18 with a valid travel document.

According to the Foreign Office, priority for the evacuation flight will be given to the most vulnerable and they will contact British nationals in Oman.

Anyone who registered their presence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and are now in Oman is asked to register for a place on a flight.

The department asked people not to travel to Muscat International Airport in Oman unless they are contacted by officials, while dependents who are not British nationals will require a valid visa or permission to enter or remain granted for more than three months.

Some 130,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East, as the Foreign Office said it was working with airlines on more routes.