The Prime Minister adopted a carefully undramatic tone yesterday as he delivered his statement about Iran’s attack on Israel.
The Health Secretary adds: “We are having to take this a step at a time. Because it’s a live a operation.”
Rishi Sunak should build on the recent progress in Northern Ireland to impress upon Dublin the urgency of stepping up our efforts to counter Russian, Chinese, and Iranian threats to our joint security.
It is imperative to grasp the group’s objectives, doctrines, and expansion tactics. Employing a combination of both soft and hard power measures is essential, targeting not only Hezbollah but also its allies and associates globally.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has made Hezbollah into the force it is today – and its expanding activities in this country beggar belief. Surely the best course of action is to proscribe it.
When I raised these issues in the summer of last year, I was shouted down. But MPs should be encouraged to show political curiosity, share their passion and advance and test current thinking.
Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser talks about what military action he thinks the US should take in Iran.
Our policy needs to be joined up, realistic and deliverable. The era of wishful thinking, of hoping that Iran will change, must be confined to history.
Its case is an attempt to divide the West in the guise of post-colonial ideology, but in the interests of actual imperialists in Moscow and Beijing.
Sir Keir will have to work hard to keep his party on the right side of the line. Which will require withdrawing the whip from any Labour MPs who support attacks on our troops.
Fifty years on from Edward Heath, another Conservative Prime Minister faces their premiership being brought even lower by a Middle Eastern energy shock.
The danger is that the conflict slowburns into a wider one, with hostilities between Israel and Iran’s proxies accelerating, and knock-on consequences for inflation and Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion represented the first open attack on an already-fraying rules-based system. The post-Cold War status quo, about which we became complacent, is gone. Everything has changed.
If you believe the role of our Armed Forces is to save lives by convincing potential aggressors that we would defeat them, then we are palpably failing.