British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called on Iran to “refrain” from attacking Israel during a telephone conversation with Iran’s new president.
Sir Keir said Masoud Pezeshkian “There was a high risk of misjudgment and now was the time for calm and careful consideration,” Downing Street said.
It is the first phone call between a British prime minister and an Iranian president since March 2021, when former British leader Boris Johnson spoke to Hassan Rouhani.
News of the 30-minute conversation came after the UK, along with the US, France, Italy and Germany, issued a joint statement calling on Iran to stop threatening to attack Israel.
They called on Iran to “cease the ongoing threat of a military attack on Israel and discussed the serious implications for regional security if such an attack were to occur.”
The leaders, who spoke by phone, also expressed support for “defense of Israel against Iranian aggression and against attacks by Iranian-backed terrorist groups.”
Fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East have increased following the recent assassination of senior leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas.
On Sunday, the US confirmed that they sent a guided missile submarine to the region in response to these concerns. The submarine can carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are used to strike land targets.
It also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which carries F-35C fighter jets, to speed up its journey there. The ship was already en route to replace another U.S. vessel in the region.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later said the US shared Israel’s concerns and that it was “increasingly likely that Iran and/or its allies will carry out an attack, possibly as soon as in the coming days.”
“That is why we have been in constant dialogue with our Israeli counterparts and other counterparts in the region,” Mr Kirby added.
According to Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the country took threats from its enemies seriously and Israel was “on the highest state of readiness for attack and defense.”
Downing Street also reported on Monday that Keir Starmer had told Mr Pezeshkian he was “deeply concerned about the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate the situation and avoid further regional confrontation”.
Iran blames Israel for killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was found on their soil last month and has vowed to punish him.
Israel, which is currently engaged in a war to destroy the group in Gaza, has not yet commented but is widely believed to be behind the killing.
Iran’s acting foreign minister said last week that the country respond to Haniyeh’s murder at the “right time” in the “appropriate” manner.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of Muslim-majority countries, said it held Israel fully responsible for the attack, which it described as a “serious infringement” on Iran’s sovereignty.
Ismail Haniyeh is not the only senior Hamas member to be killed recently. Israel also recently announced that the group’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, has been killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip last month.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, with which Israel is also involved in a conflict, has also said it to take retaliatory measures for the death of its top commander Fuad Shukr.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday became the latest leader to call on his country’s citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible, warning of the risk of increasing tensions.
Airlines including Lufthansa, Swiss Air and EasyJet have cancelled or suspended flights to the Middle East.
