The UK has refused to back US president Donald Trump’s call for the Iranian regime to “unconditionally surrender”.
In a post on Truth Social yesterday, Trump posted the words “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and in another post appeared to threaten to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khaminai.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now”, he wrote.
But a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday that the government was focused on de-escalation.
“We want to de-escalate across the region, rather than escalate. We are clear that de-escalation is the right outcome for the Middle East. We are clear that it is. You know, we're conscious, as the prime minister said, that this has an impact on the lives of people in the United Kingdom. That is why the prime minister has been focused in recent days at the G7 on de-escalation, and we will continue to be focused on de-escalation”, they added.
Asked if Number 10 would repeat Trump’s call for the regime to surrender, the spokesperson said: “Our priority remains, working with all of our allies to call for a de-escalation and a diplomatic solution. Position on Iran and their nuclear program is well set out and long standing.”
Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer and other G7 leaders (including US President Donald Trump) issued a joint statement calling for "de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza"
It also labelled Iran “the principal source of regional instability and terror” and emphasised that “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
But the final draft had reportedly been watered down in order to preserve G7 unity, with Trump understood to be the main barrier to stronger criticism of the war – which started when Israel attack Iranian nuclear sites last week.
As Starmer was away from Westminster at the summit, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner took his place at PMQs.
During the session, Rayner was asked whether the UK would consider following the US in joining Israel’s attacks on Iran by Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper.
“In 2003, we Liberal Democrats were incredibly proud to lead the campaign against the Iraq War, a war in which the UK blindly followed the US, in a move which was not backed by the United Nations.
“In light of reports that President Trump is seriously considering joining the war between Israel and Iran, launching a US strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, can the deputy prime minister confirm that if President Trump does do this, that today's Labour government will not blindly follow the us into war again?”, asked Cooper.
Rayner responded by saying that she agreed with President Trump “that Iran must never have nuclear weapons”.
She went on to say that the government had “been consistent in urging to Iran to engage in the diplomatic process and work with the United States, and we continue to support that diplomatic approach”.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary filling in for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, joined the government “in calling for de-escalation between Israel and Iran”, but said that “everything possible must be done to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, by contrast, backed calls for regime change in Tehran. He told radio station Talk that Iran was one of the topics he and Donald Trump really bonded over during his time in the US.
“Obama, Cameron... the European Union all thought ‘oh, these Iranians, they're really lovely people, we can do a deal with them’. The JCPOA deal [in 2015], as it was known at the time, freed up tens of billions of dollars in return for them promising not to continue to enrich uranium.
"What did they do? Took the money to fund Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas, … and carried on with enrichment”, Farage told host Mike Graham.
The MP for Clacton went on to say that although he was “generally against war unless it's needed”, he didn’t think that “Israel had any choice but to take the action they took”, and suggested direct American participation – which is reportedly under consideration in Washington - was necessary to eliminate Iran’s nuclear programme.
He added: “The one thing that we do know with the two big nuclear facilities is that a lot of the kit's underground. It's going to take this MOAB, the mother of all bombs, that the Americans have, to take that out. Probably for the first time ever, I'm for regime change.
“I think the poor Persian people – and by the way, I've worked with Persians, I met them all over the world – they deserve better than this awful, brutal regime.”
Meanwhile, earlier this week, the government recognised the specific threat posed by Iran to Israel.
David Lammy told MPs on Monday that it was “no surprise that Israel considers the Iranian nuclear programme an existential threat”, given the eliminationist rhetoric by the country’s leaders.
The threat posed by the regime to the Middle East was recognised by MPs across all parties.
Former deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell described Iran as a “terrorist-supporting state … that is destabilising the region, rejecting the IAEA and international proposals to prevent nuclear proliferation and limit uranium enrichment, and sponsoring terrorist actions on the streets of Britain”.
He asked Lammy whether he felt that “Israel is now doing the world’s dirty work on behalf of us all”, a point made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The foreign secretary responded by saying: “This is an existential threat for Israel and its people, which is why it is important that we ask for restraint at this time, because we do not want to see regional escalation.”
