Keir Starmer calls on Iran to ‘return to negotiating table' as he issues response to US bombing nuclear sites

It comes as Iran has threatened 'everlasting consequences'
'GRAVE THREAT' Keir Starmer calls on Iran to 'return to negotiating table' as he issues response to US bombing nuclear sites
SIR Keir Starmer has said the US took action to 'alleviate' Iran's nuclear threat.
The Prime Minister urged the Tehran 'to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis' as he responded to Trump's blitz.
In a statement, the Labour party leader said: "Iran's nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security.
"Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat.
"The situation in the Middle East remains volatile and stability in the region is a priority.
"We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis."
This comes after the US military bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities in an historic strike against the Islamic Republic.
Iran has since threatened "everlasting consequences" as Houthis vowed to target US forces.
In a statement posted on X, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi wrote: "The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT by attacking Iran's peaceful nuclear installations.
"The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior.
"In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people."
Iran has lashed out with two rounds of missiles into Israel in the wake of America's strikes.
The IDF announced about an hour ago that the second wave was on its way, and urged all Israelis to obey the instruction of the Home Front Command.
Citizens were also instructed not to share information about locations or casualties.
At least 16 people are reported to have been injured.
Meanwhile Yemen's Houthi's warned they will target US ships in the Red Sea if they are involved in any potential attack on Iran, the group announced on Saturday.
The group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said: 'We will target US ships and battleships in the Red Sea if Washington participates in the attack on Iran.'
Saree added how they consider any potential Israeli attack on Iran to be aimed at 'removing Tehran as an obstacle to an Israeli plan to dominate the region'.
In Washington, Trump said the "highly successful" military operation "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear sites, adding that the US teamed up with Israel to carry out the bombings.
The president added that Iran must now make peace or "we will go after" other targets in Iran after the US strikes.
Trump said in a nationally televised speech at the White House: "Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.
"Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."
But the president also said that if Iran didn't cut a peace deal now it would continue to face American military power.
He said: 'Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier."
"There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days."
'Remember there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal.
'But if peace does not come quickly we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.
'Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight."
America has now directly joined Israel's campaign of bombing Iran as they both seek to obliterate Tehran's nuclear program.
A response from Iran, or from the Ayatollah in hiding, has not yet come.
Ali Khamenei is believed to be cowering away in the secret lair as Israeli missile attacks rain down nearby.
Two informed sources inside the country told Iran International the country's ageing dictator is holed up in the bunker in Lavizan, a neighbourhood in Tehran.
Posting on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said US bombers targeted Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan enrichment sites - all key to Iran's doomsday project.
He said a full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.

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Security ramped up at US synagogues after strikes on Iran

Security has been stepped at synagogues across the US in the aftermath of America's strikes on Iran. The US president authorised strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure using 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, the largest and most powerful conventional bombs in the US arsenal, over the weekend. Mr Trump warned in the aftermath of the strikes on Fordow, the country's primary nuclear site, Natanz and Isfahan, that retaliating would be a mistake. On Sunday it was revealed the president had been warned at the G7 summit that Iran would activate terror 'sleeper cells' across the US in the event of a strike. Security precautions in the US have been ratcheted up in the wake of the strikes, with Rodney Scott, the customs and border protection commissioner, saying the terror threat had 'never been higher'. Extra police officers have been stationed outside synagogues and the Israeli consulate in New York City, which is home to around 1.9 million Jewish residents. 'The NYPD is tracking the situation in the Middle East. Out of an abundance of caution, we're deploying additional resources to Jewish, Israeli and other sites throughout NYC. We're coordinating with our federal partners, and we'll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC,' the New York Police Department said. Extra police are also patrolling Jewish and Muslim places of worship outside the city in Suffolk County on Long Island. 'There are no credible threats to New York at this time,' Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, said. 'As a precaution, we have increased security for sensitive locations and stepped up cybersecurity protections. My priority is keeping New Yorkers safe.' Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, which has a Jewish population of around 617,000, said she has increased the city's police patrols at 'places of worship, community gathering spaces and other sensitive sites.' Washington, DC, home to just under 60,000 Jews, has pledged to step up security around Jewish spaces, even though there are no known current threats. It comes following the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, in Washington, DC in May. In addition to the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, the country has consulates in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. In Canada, police in Montreal advised a Jewish school and synagogue to suspend prayers and lessons following a telephone shooting threat, according to reports. Police rushed to the scene on Ekers Avenue on Sunday after an anonymous caller said he would arrive within minutes to 'shoot up' the premises, the Jewish Community Council said. Research by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has revealed a surge in anti-Semitic and violent threats on social media. In the 12 days preceding Israel's pre-emptive air strikes, there were an average of 28.5 threats on the dozen sites monitored by the ADL. The number of threats surged to a record 398 on June 13, the day after Israel attacked Iran's nuclear installations, and then dropped back to just under 200 a day until June 17. Researchers also found a change in tone with threats going beyond harassment to calls for mass violence and genocide against Israelis and Jews.

Daily Mail​

44 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

Opinion: Iran's brutal regime has now run out of options

The clerical-military dictatorship which has ruled Iran for almost 50 years has run out of options. President Trump's daring raid on Iran's nuclear facilities further undermines a regime which is already reeling from multiple humiliations at home and abroad. For the medieval mullahs and their brutal generals, there is no good way forward, no credible response that doesn't involve more humiliation amounting to capitulation. The end of days beckons for them. The US raid is just one more nail in the coffin. A regime which only recently thought it was on track to dominate the Middle East with its toxic brew of Islamism and anti-Semitism is now reeling in retreat on every front. The terrorist proxies which it fostered and financed at huge expense and through which it spread fear and terror, are impotent. Hamas struggles to survive, in no state to threaten anyone bar defenceless Palestinians who dare to challenge its fading power. Hezbollah, a far more formidable operation dominating southern Lebanon and once seen as the tip of the spear should Israel ever attack Iran, has been decapitated. It speaks volumes that Hezbollah has not lifted a finger to help its paymasters even as Israel pummels Iran from the skies. Iran's great ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad , has been deposed and languishes in exile in Moscow (where some of the Iranian regime may soon join him). Iran used Syria as a base from which its Quds Force, the foreign legion arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, could stir up all manner of mayhem across the region. Syria was also the conduit through which it channelled arms and money to its proxies, but it is now in the hands of forces hostile to the Iranian regime. As if all that was not bad enough, there came the greatest humiliation of all: Iran lost control of its skies to the Israeli air force. As a result, Israel is able to strike with impunity. The Iranian air force has been neutralised, many of the country's military commanders have been killed – as have key nuclear scientists – and its missile stocks and launchers are being ruthlessly degraded by Israeli air power. Israel's dominance of Iranian airspace paved the way for the US attack on the nuclear facilities. Its B-2 stealth bombers were able to drop their bunker-buster bombs on sites buried deep underground without being detected. They arrived, unleashed their ordnance and departed without Iran firing a single missile at them or scrambling even one fighter jet to confront them. Trump sees himself as a master of the art of the deal. But he's turned out to be more a master of deception. He lulled Iran into thinking he was still up for negotiating a deal while secretly green-lighting Israel's attacks on Iran, which started on Friday the 13th (unlucky for some). He said he'd take up to two weeks to decide if he'd deploy US bunker-busters against Iran – then did so after two days. Trump's administration let it be known that B-2 bombers were on their way across the Pacific – while the real strike force was heading for Iran over the Atlantic . US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed Iran's nuclear bombmaking facilities had been 'obliterated'. Its top military man, General Dan 'Razin' Caine, was more cautious, saying initial estimates were that all three nuclear sites attacked – Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow – suffered 'sustained severe damage' but it would take time to establish a more complete picture. Trump wants Iran to restart talks to give up its nuclear capabilities . That's his preferred option. But he's equally clear that if Tehran refuses or, worse, retaliates for yesterday's strike, then he will authorise further assaults. He's certainly assembled the firepower in the region to deliver his threat – including two massive aircraft carrier groups. The real significance of what happened at the weekend is that, should the Iranian regime decide to escalate the conflict or continue to pursue its nuclear ambitions, it will face not just Israel, but the combined military might of Israel and the United States. That is a truly historic development – and should give Iran cause to pause. But nobody really knows who is running the show in Tehran now. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is 86, in very poor health, bereft of several of his closest advisers ( killed by Israel ), holed up in a bunker for his own safety and without an agreed heir apparent. His lifelong strategy – to arm Iran with nuclear weapons and establish it as the dominant power in the Middle East – lies in tatters. Iran is on its knees. The idea he or those around him are still capable of a coherent or rational response may be fanciful. In the aftermath of yesterday's attack, Iran's parliament voted to authorise the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which most Gulf oil and gas passes in massive tankers . But that decision can only be taken by Khamenei in cahoots with his national security council. It would certainly cause the global economy some short-term pain as energy prices spiked. But it would also be a body blow to the regime, which needs fossil-fuel revenues to sustain the military and pay the Revolutionary Guards and assorted thugs that are so vital to it keeping its grip on power. The risk is that hotheads gain the upper hand – as they have in the past – and go for a scorched earth policy, realising the game is up but determined to take whoever they can down with them. So, close the Strait of Hormuz, fire missiles at the oil and gas fields of the Gulf states and wreak revenge on US bases in the region. But any of that would bring the full might of American and Israeli air power down on the regime's head, leaving it not just without a nuclear capability but without a functioning economy – a likely precursor to the overthrow of a dictatorship that has long passed its sell-by date for most Iranians. Israel and the US deny regime change is the goal. But Washington and Jerusalem both know that the best guarantee of a non-nuclear Iran is a more reasonable, post-Islamist government in Tehran. It is, of course, for Iranians to determine their government. Nobody is talking about boots on the ground. Aerial bombing is a somewhat blunt and inexact way of creating conditions for a better government. But America and Israel are agreed that now is the time to keep up the pressure on a regime responsible for so much misery – an alliance buoyed by the better prospects its demise would bring for Israel, America, the Sunni Arabs in the Gulf and, above all, the Iranian people. It's certainly a more worthy goal than the usual hand-wringing, vacuous calls for 'de-escalation' and 'stability' from European leaders, including our own Keir Starmer, who clearly disapproved of the US strike yet welcomed the setback to Iran's nuclear ambitions – a classic case, if ever there was one, of willing the ends but not the means. No matter. Britain and Europe don't even have walk-on parts in the events unfolding in the Middle East. They are mere spectators who think they still count – but thankfully don't. America and Israel, with the tacit support of the Sunni Arabs, are showing that strength, properly deployed in a good cause, can make a difference. Britain and Europe barely have any strength these days – which explains why they disparage its use. The world should be grateful that neither is in the driving seat.

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As Starmer unveils his 10-year plan, here's my advice: don't fall into the Joe Biden trap

Everyone in Westminster loves American politics. They – or, I should say, we – were raised on a diet of The West Wing and closely follow the twists and turns inside the Beltway coming from American media. This obsession has an effect on the real world: what happens in the US shapes British politics. Long ago this was seen in the parallels between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair's 'third way'; and this time last year Keir Starmer's Labour party was looking to Joe Biden's Democrats. Biden went all-in on reforming the US economy. Through the Chips and Science, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs and Inflation Reduction acts, he spent billions hoping to build more at home, boost growth and grow wages. It worked. Public investment led to more than $1tn (£750bn) of private sector spending, and real wages grew by $4,000 a person, with more for the worst off. Even with the pandemic, economic growth averaged 3% a year under Biden. This is an economy the Labour government would die for and is one of the reasons it embraced its own version of Biden's plans. The industrial strategy released today is the most concrete expression of Labour's 'securonomics' that it has given in government, after Rachel Reeves unveiled the strategy in Washington in opposition. But for all Biden's economic success, the Democrats did not win the election in 2024. Immediately commentators turned on the former president's economic platform, arguing that long-term reform was a waste of time. Only one thing mattered when it came to votes: the price of eggs. Labour hasn't jettisoned its industrial strategy based on Biden's loss, despite many urging it to. But for the strategy to be successful and to last the 10 years that Labour intends it to (not the three years that the Inflation Reduction Act did) the government will need to learn from Biden's mistakes. To understand how, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), where I work, spoke to more than 40 people in Washington, including many former senior White House officials. Here are two key lessons. First, long-term reform is crucial but will always be slow. Expecting it to win votes now is a recipe for disaster. One former official put it this way: 'Industrial policy achieved its goals … but nobody cares, we delivered on stuff they didn't care about.' The problem was that even in the White House there wasn't agreement on the purpose of industrial policy. While those running the policy were trying to make long-lasting clean energy investments, it was sold to the Democratic party as the way to beat Trump. The interim effect was the same – money went to predominantly Republican districts (more because of their cheaper labour than a deliberate strategy). But building a factory, hiring people and eventually building things is a decade-long project. As one official said: '[Industrial policy] wasn't going to transform the map in two years after 50 years of deindustrialisation.' While Labour is explicit that this is a 10-year growth strategy, it can speed things up – planning reform will help. It must also address Britain's workforce shortages now, not just think about skill development in the future. Rebuilding capability inside government is also vital. The US government was engaging for the first time in facilitating the production of new, rapidly developing technologies such as clean hydrogen. Creating policies such as the hydrogen tax credit takes time and expertise. Officials in the British government are going to need to get to grips with the intricacies of 37 new high-potential subsectors. The second lesson: to give long-term policies the space to succeed, governments need a short-term economic improvement to people's lives. This is crucial: battery manufacturing projects are now being cancelled across the US because Democrats didn't win a second term to protect them. Biden's team had wanted a broader economic story that spoke to inflation. But things that would actually help – cheaper childcare or tax provisions for working-class Americans – were cut out of legislation by the Senate. This was at a time when Covid-era support was expiring. Defending the imperfect Inflation Reduction Act and championing investments rang hollow with the public, who wanted to hear about prices coming down. Labour has space to address this. The IPPR has conducted polling that tells us energy prices easily top every other economic issue as the public's economic priority. Of those surveyed, 47% said they would prefer the government to focus on lower costs even if this meant stagnant wages (something the British public is well used to), as opposed to 12% who would take a wage rise even if costs went up too. A final point is that the world is much bigger than the US and there are lessons to be learned elsewhere. In Spain, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has overseen investment of €163bn (£140bn) in the green transition – but rather than relying solely on this, his government has also acted on the rising cost of housing by capping rent increases. Anthony Albanese last month won a second term in Australia for the Labor party for similar reasons. His AUS$22.7bn (£10.8bn) investment in a future made in Australia – predominantly in clean energy – came with energy bill relief, rent assistance and cheaper medicines. So rather than sitting down for another rewatch of The West Wing, perhaps it would be a better strategy to examine how similar-sized countries elsewhere have given themselves the chance to make long-term industrial strategies work. Sam Alvis is associate director at IPPR and a former political adviser to the Labour party Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? 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