Sir Keir Starmer has warned of a “risk of escalation” beyond the Middle East after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites overnight, as he calls for a return to the negotiating table.
The prime minister said he wanted to “reassure the British public that we’re doing everything we can to stabilise the situation” and find a diplomatic solution after the US bombed three sites.
He said escalation was a risk to the Middle East and “beyond the region”, adding “that’s why all our focus has been on de-escalating, getting people back around to negotiate”.
Sir Keir said there was no UK involvement in the US action but he was told about it in advance.
The prime minister will later chair an emergency Cobra response meeting.
Sir Keir said the UK had been “clear Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”, adding stability in the region was the priority.
The US said it had carried out strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo on Saturday night.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds stopped short of welcoming the strikes.
He said: “I wanted a different way to obtain this but I cannot pretend to you that prevention of Iran having a nuclear weapon is anything other than in the interests of the UK”.
Although the UK had “wanted” a peaceful de-escalation of tensions, Reynolds added: “Iran didn’t listen to the diplomatic calls for a peaceful solution. That was a mistake.”
Pressed on whether there was a parallel with the Iraq war and if there was any legal advice on attacks, Reynolds said: “This is very different to what we saw with the invasion of Iraq.”
Iran has claimed its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and recent uranium enrichment to 60% was done as part of a research and development programme.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) latest report warned that Iran had amassed enough enriched uranium to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, which was “a source of legitimate concern”.
Asked why Iran needed uranium enriched to near weapons-grade, Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Seyed Ali Mousavi, told the BBC: “There’s no intention from our side to go into a military attack”.
He added Iran is considering the “quantity and quality” of its reaction to the US action.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Kuenssberg that Iran’s nuclear programme had been hit “substantially” but added that he did not yet know the exact details of what happened as he did not know in advance and was “woken up when it happened”.
Israel has been targeting military sites in Iran in recent days, with Iran returning fire.
In a televised address following the strikes, President Donald Trump said the US’s overnight operation was a “spectacular military success”, adding that if Iran did not make peace quickly it would face “far greater” attacks.
No increase in off-site radiation has been reported, according to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) latest update.
Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi called the US strikes “outrageous” and said they would have “everlasting consequences”.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said the overnight strikes were a “dangerous escalation”.
Reacting to the US action overnight, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, said: “By targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, the US has taken decisive action against a regime that fuels global terror and directly threatens the UK.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was now “essential” for the UK to “de-escalate the conflict and achieve that diplomatic solution”.
Starmer has previously urged for further negotiations in a bid to de-escalate the conflict.
“The risk of escalation in the region is obvious,” he said at the time.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Washington last week to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The foreign secretary said after the meeting: “We discussed how a deal could avoid a deepening conflict. A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution.”
He formed part of a European contingent which met with Iranian officials on Friday.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has advised against all travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Iran.
