Israel-Iran conflict set to dominate as world leaders gather for G7
Sir Keir Starmer said that the G7 meeting in Alberta would provide an opportunity for allies to make the case for de-escalation in the 'fast moving' situation in the Middle East, with Donald Trump among those set to attend.
Leaders have been urging calm in recent days since Israel first launched strikes against Iran before the weekend, with Sir Keir having held calls with Mr Trump, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz among others.
Israel and Iran continued to exchange fire on Sunday, as the Iranian health ministry said that 224 people have been killed since the conflict ignited on Friday.
Israel's attacks have killed a number of Tehran's top generals, as the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles, said intelligence chief General Mohammad Kazemi and two other generals were the latest killed.
The UK Government updated its travel guidance to advise against all travel to Israel on Sunday amid the continuing blows.
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office website warns that 'travel insurance could be invalidated' if people travel against the advice, and described the current status as a 'fast-moving situation that poses significant risks'.
Asked about reports that ministers have drawn up contingency plans to evacuate British nationals from Israel, a Number 10 spokesman said on Sunday: 'We always monitor the situation closely and we keep contingency plans, as you'd expect, under constant review.'
The Associated Press reported on Sunday that Mr Trump in recent days vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mr Trump said on Sunday that 'Iran and Israel should make a deal'.
'We will have peace soon between Israel and Iran,' he posted on his TruthSocial platform.
'Many calls and meetings now taking place.'
He also told ABC News that 'it's possible we could get involved' in the conflict.
A planned sixth round of talks between the US and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme did not take place on Sunday.
'We remain committed to talks and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon,' a senior US official said.
The UK has been calling for de-escalation, and Sir Keir confirmed on Saturday that more RAF jets would be sent to the region for 'contingency support'.
Earlier on Sunday, Rachel Reeves said that the decision to send the planes ' does not mean that we are at war'.
'We do have important assets in the region and it is right that we send jets to protect them and that's what we've done.
'It's a precautionary move,' she told Sky News.
Oil prices surged surged on Friday after Israel's initial strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, sparking fears of increasing prices in the UK.
The Chancellor told the BBC that there is 'no complacency' from the Treasury on the issue and 'we're obviously, monitoring this very closely as a government'.
An Iranian health ministry spokesman said on social media that as well as the 224 fatalities, 1,277 other people were admitted to hospital. He asserted that more than 90% of the casualties were civilians.
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The delusion of western Palestine activists in Egypt
As the news cycle shifts its gaze to Iran and the escalating war to prevent the psychotic Islamic theocracy from going nuclear, spare a thought for the few hundred virtue-signalling westerners who thought it would be clever to traipse through Egypt and attempt to approach the Gaza border, armed not with aid or expertise, but with slogans, smartphones, and a boundless belief in their own moral radiance. They came, allegedly, to show solidarity with Gaza. What they revealed, instead, was the sheer delusion of performative activism gone rogue. Egypt, they quickly discovered, is not Glastonbury These self-styled heroes of humanity had absorbed the wildest claims from Hamas propagandists: tales of genocide, disproportionality, and babies being starved by 'Zionists' for sport. That this information may have come from a terrorist organisation that systematically lies, stages suffering for cameras, and steals aid from its own people did not seem to give them pause. Nor did the macabre irony that Hamas triggered this war by butchering Israeli civilians on 7 October, in an Iranian-backed rampage. For the marchers, it seems context and truth are distractions. Israel is evil, Gaza is pure, and anything that complicates this infantile morality play must be ignored. And so they flew to Cairo, preening like missionaries, oblivious to the region they were entering. Egypt, they quickly discovered, is not Glastonbury. Its security services do not offer vegan meal options or safe spaces. Within days, hundreds were detained, deported, or dumped back in the capital. One might almost feel sorry for them, if it weren't all so laughable. Their misfortune wasn't just predictable, it was the logical outcome of their fantasy-driven politics colliding with a brutal, indifferent reality. One particular scene went viral, mostly because of its tragicomic absurdity. 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Macron's blunt message to Trump from Greenland pre-G7
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The Guardian
37 minutes ago
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Iran threatens to leave nuclear weapons treaty as Israeli bombing enters fourth day
Iran has threatened to leave the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) as Israel bombing raids entered a fourth day, underlining the conflict's potential to trigger a broader war and Tehran's race to construct a nuclear weapon. The human cost of the war continued to escalate with both sides broadening their range of targets, as G7 leaders convened in the Canadian rockies with no clear plan to end the conflict. As he left for the summit on Sunday, the US president, Donald Trump, told reporters: 'Sometimes they have to fight it out.' Iran's health ministry said that 224 people in Iran had been killed by Israeli attacks, 90% of them civilian, and more than 1,400 had been injured. Israel's defence minister, meanwhile, threatened further bombing strikes on Tehran, where an exodus of residents has been reported, clogging roads out of the capital. 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He pointed out that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had issued a religious edict against weapons of mass destruction. Israel is the only Middle East state with nuclear weapons and did not sign the NPT, but has never formally acknowledged its arsenal. It is seeking to maintain its monopoly with air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, claiming that Tehran was close to building a bomb. Previous assessments by US intelligence and the UN nuclear watchdog found no evidence that Iran had begun work on assembling a nuclear weapon. Israeli critics of the offensive say it cannot destroy Iran's reserve of nuclear knowhow – though Israel has targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, claiming to have killed 14 – and could push the leadership into ordering the assembly of nuclear warheads. There were reports on Monday of Israeli strikes on the Tehran headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard Corps al-Quds force, an expeditionary arm deployed in foreign wars. Despite Israeli claims to have air superiority over much of Iran, Iranian forces have still been able to launch ballistic missiles from their territory and some continue to evade Israel's multi-layered air defences. IDF officials estimate that it is has been able to intercept 80-90% of Iran's missiles, with 5-10% hitting actual residential areas. Eight more Israelis were killed overnight by Iranian missile strikes, including four in Petah Tikva where a missile hit an apartment block. Three people died from blasts in Haifa and an elderly man was killed when his home collapsed from the shockwave from an explosion in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed to have begun strikes 'more powerful and deadly than previous waves,' and to have found a way of causing confusion in Israeli air defence systems. There was no immediate way of independently verifying the claim. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, reported on social media 'some minor damage from concussions of Iranian missile hits' near the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv. An Israeli biology professor, Eran Segal, posted photos on X f damage to his laboratory at the Weizmann Institute, a scientific research centre which has been previously targeted by Iranian intelligence for its nuclear research. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Israeli strikes have caused damage to the above-ground part of the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, and to the nuclear complex in Isfahan. The IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi, reported on Monday that four buildings in Isfahan had been damaged in Friday's bombing raids: its central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, a plant making nuclear fuel for a research reactor in Tehran and a processing facility which had been under construction which would process enriched uranium into metal form, which is the form used in a nuclear warhead. Addressing the IAEA board of governors representing member states, Grossi said there were no signs of damage at the Fordow enrichment plant, which is deeply buried. Military commentators have suggested that Israel would find it hard to destroy Fordow and other underground facilities without the intervention of US forces, who have much bigger bunker-busting bombs. Iran urged the board to condemn Israeli attacks on its nuclear sites, which Grossi has also said are contrary to the UN charter and international law. Iranian state TV said the country fired at least 100 missiles at Israel, with no signs of a reduction in Iran's efforts to strike back against Israeli attacks, which have wiped out the top echelon of the Iranian military command. As Tehran residents evacuated the capital in increasing numbers, Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, threatened to make Tehranis 'pay the price' for Khamenei's decision to keep firing missiles at Israel in retaliation for the Israeli attack. 'The arrogant dictator from Tehran has become a cowardly murderer who deliberately fires at Israeli civilians to deter the IDF from continuing the attack that is tearing him down,' Katz wrote. 'The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.' The Iranian state-backed news agency Fars reported that the authorities had executed a man found guilty of spying for Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad. It was the third execution of an alleged spy in recent weeks. Iran's chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, vowed there would be speedy trials anyone arrested on suspicion of collaboration. 'If someone is arrested for having ties to and collaborating with the Zionist regime, their trial and punishment should be carried out and announced very quickly, in accordance with the law and given the war conditions,' Ejei said, quoted by the Tasnim news agency. G7 leaders began gathering in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday with the Israel-Iran conflict expected to be a top priority. Before leaving for the summit on Sunday, Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation. 'I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal,' he told reporters. 'Sometimes they have to fight it out.' Talks previously scheduled between the US and Iran in Oman on Sunday were cancelled and Iranian officials have signalled they will not resume any negotiations while their country is under attack. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said his goals for the summit were to try to ensure Iran did not develop or possess nuclear weapons, while ensuring Israel's right to defend itself. Merz added that Germany wanted to avoid escalation of the conflict and creating room for diplomacy. 'This issue will be very high on the agenda of the G7 summit,' Merz told reporters.
