BREAKING NEWS Keir Starmer to hold emergency Cobra meeting amid fears of US joining Israel's attack on Iran
Sir Keir Starmer will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in the Middle East, amid fears that the US will join Israel 's attack on Iran.
The Prime Minister is expected to gather experts after returning from the G7 summit in Canada.
It comes after US officials indicated that Iran has 24 to 48 hours to surrender and save itself from American invention as President Trump considers joining Israel's war.
White House officials said the next two days will be critical in determining whether a diplomatic solution can be found to the burgeoning crisis in the Middle East.
The families of British diplomatic staff in Israel have been 'temporarily withdrawn' as Tel Aviv and Tehran continue to exchange fire.
But UK tourists in the country have been told to stay where they are.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Assisted dying bill does 'not meet needs of patients', says Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Royal College of Psychiatrists' lead on assisted dying has told Sky News she is approaching Friday's vote by MPs "with professional trepidation". The medical organisation said the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in its current form did "not meet the needs of patients". It has also expressed concern over the shortage of qualified psychiatrists to take part in assisted dying panels, concerns around capacity assessment, and whether or not assisted dying will be interpreted as a treatment – because that would have a profound impact on the psychiatrist's decision-making process. Friday will be the first time the bill has been voted on in its entirety since last year's yes vote, when MPs supported the principle of assisted dying for England and Wales by a majority of 55. MPs are allowed to have a free vote on the bill, meaning they can decide based on their conscience instead of following party lines. The bill's supporters have said it is coming back to the Commons with better safeguards after more than 90 hours of parliamentary time spent on it to date. But opponents claim the process has been rushed and that changes to the bill mean it is weaker than when it was first introduced. The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. Dr Annabel Price, the lead for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at the Royal College of Psychiatrists ( RCPsych), said: "We know that there is a strong association between a wish to hasten death and depression, and that there isn't adequate opportunity within the bill to assess somebody's needs and also to make sure that those needs are met, which might have an impact on their continued wish to want to end their life." The RCPsych was one of the first royal colleges to voice concerns about the bill in its current form. These fears have since been echoed by two more royal colleges, physicians and pathologists. It has provided written evidence to the bill's scrutiny committee, while Dr Price has provided oral evidence. She said the organisation had "actively engaged with parliamentarians throughout the process" and expressed concerns in two public statements. But despite all of this, the concerns raised have not been addressed, it is claimed. This has prompted worries because, under the bill, psychiatrists would have a leading role in assessing a patient's mental capacity when an assisted death has been requested. They would be on a panel alongside doctors, social workers, and a legal expert. The panel would not be expected to meet the patient during the process. Panel role 'doesn't map on to job of psychiatrist' Dr Price said the idea of making a clinical assessment of a patient's mental health ran contrary to everything a psychiatrist had been trained to do. She said: "The panel role doesn't really map on to the professional job and training of a psychiatrist. What psychiatrists are trained to do is the assessment and treatment of mental illness. "The panel role is really to check what the two other doctors have done and whether that patient meets the eligibility criteria. "And if they do, then they must be granted assisted dying. That doesn't really give room to identify meeting an unmet need, like depression for example, but there are lots of things that may be unmet, social difficulties, untreated pain and other physical symptoms, where that person might no longer want to die. "And it doesn't really give room for a psychiatrist to do what they're trained to do and where their expertise lies, which would be essentially a checking role." Clarification call Dr Price said other areas of the bill also needed urgent clarification. She said: "When somebody has a mental illness, our job is to see if we can treat that mental illness. The other area in the bill that hasn't really been addressed is the psychiatrist's responsibility around suicide prevention. "When we meet somebody who wants to end their life, we have a duty to that patient and that duty may involve assessing that patient under the Mental Health Act to try to manage the mental health aspects that may be making them want to die. And there really isn't enough detail as to how we do that, how we square those two roles and duties. That needs more attention." Dr Price added: "The Mental Capacity Act was designed to support people who can't make decisions for themselves to be able to have decisions made in their best interest for them. "There is nothing in the provision of the Mental Capacity Act that talks about a decision to end one's own life, so this is a new decision. "We don't currently have anything that maps on to that clinically and so the Mental Capacity Act, we have stated very clearly, is not sufficient to be a sufficient safeguard in assisted dying and that we need to rethink how capacity is assessed."
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Buried in a mountain and fortified against bombs: Inside Iran's secret Fordow nuclear site out of Israel's reach
Deep beneath the hills of central Iran, Tehran has ramped up its production of enriched uranium. A recent report by the United Nations ' nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said they were 'seriously concerned' about the 'significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium'. In 2018, as a deal brokered by Barack Obama that limited Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief was ended by Donald Trump, Tehran had just 150kg of uranium enriched to 3.6 per cent. That number has now soared to 409kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent. Iran could convert this uranium into hundreds of kilograms of 90 per cent enriched, weapons-grade uranium in just a matter of weeks, according to analysis by the Washington, DC-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS). That is enough for nine nuclear weapons. Iran operates more than 30 facilities around the country that carry out different steps of the nuclear fuel cycle, many of which have been hit by the latest Israeli strikes, aimed at neutralising Iran's possible nuclear threat. But it is the most concerning of these plants, known as Fordow, that remains intact. It is buried deep underground and heavily fortified. It is also estimated to contain 2,700 centrifuges, vital for uranium enrichment. Below, The Independent looks at what we know about the Fordow site on the outskirts of the city of Qom and why Israel is so concerned by it. When was Fordow set up, and what is it? Fordow is Iran's second nuclear enrichment facility after Natanz, its main facility. From above, all that can be seen are five tunnels disappearing into a group of mountains inside a wide security perimeter. In addition to being an estimated 80 meters under rock and soil, the site is reportedly protected by Iranian and Russian surface-to-air missile systems, though Israel may have already struck these weapons. Though Fordow is smaller than Natanz, it has always been the main object of international concerns regarding Iran's uranium-enrichment programme. When Obama revealed the existence of the site in 2009, flanked by then French president Nicolas Sarkozy and British prime minister Gordon Brown, he described its size and configuration as 'inconsistent with a peaceful program'. Iran had told the IAEA just days before of its desire to build a new fuel enrichment facility, but by that point, the site had been under construction for years. The IAEA says they have imagery showing construction as far back as 2002. Why is it key to the Israel-Iran conflict? It is no coincidence that the first Israeli missiles to hit Iran in this latest exchange came shortly after an IAEA report expressed 'serious concern' about Tehran's uranium-enrichment programme. 'The significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern,' the IAEA said in a 31 May report. Weeks later, Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, told Fox News that their entire aerial assault on Iran 'has to be completed with the elimination of Fordow'. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Iran's uranium enrichment programme and the prospect of Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons poses an existential threat to Israel. Several of Iran's other nuclear facilities have already been hit, including two centrifuge production facilities on Wednesday morning. Dozens of Iranian officials and nuclear scientists have also been assassinated. Can Fordow be destroyed? Herein lies Israel's problem. Israel is one of the most heavily armed countries on the planet with some of the most sophisticated weapons. The air superiority it has established over Iran effectively gives the IDF free rein to bomb at will, but it lacks weapons that can penetrate a bunker as deep as Fordow. In fact, experts believe there is only one weapon capable of damaging Fordow: the US-owned 30,000lb GBU-57/B Massive Ordinance Penetrator bomb. Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and an expert in airpower, says the only means of destroying Fordow would be 'with multiple impacts into the same hole', using this US bomb. What's more, it can only be delivered, says Mr Bronk, by the US B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Any successful operation would 'rely on the weapons being delivered and functioning perfectly,' he adds. So far, the US has not signalled an intentions to hit the nuclear site, and the Trump administration had been engaging Tehran in nuclear talks before Israel's latest attacks. However, the US president has not ruled a strike. US officials told CBS News that Trump is considering whether to join Israel in its attacks to stop the possibility of Iran enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels. Speaking aboard Air Force One, the US President was clear-eyed about his red line: 'Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. It's very simple.' Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei, was equally forthright in his response. If the US get involved, Washington will face 'serious, irreparable consequences', he said.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Keir Starmer chairs Cobra meeting as Donald Trump says he ‘may' strike Iran
But the US president, who left the summit a day early, told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday that he was considering strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. He said: 'I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.' Israel and Iran have exchanged fire over the past six days after air strikes which Tel Aviv said were aimed at preventing Tehran developing a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials insist the country's nuclear programme is peaceful, and claim Israel has caused hundreds of civilian casualties. Israeli jets continued to attack Tehran on Tuesday night, but the Iranian response appears to have diminished, with only 10 missiles intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system during the night. Mr Trump said Iran had 'got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate', adding it was 'very late to be talking' but 'we may meet'. On Tuesday night, the president had used his Truth Social platform to describe Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as an 'easy target'. He later posted the words 'Unconditional surrender', prompting Mr Khamenei to warn that any American military involvement would result in 'irreparable damage' to the US. Amid questions over potential American involvement in the conflict, Sir Keir convened his senior ministers for a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee to discuss the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East. The Foreign Office has evacuated family members of embassy staff from Israel, but has not advised British nationals to leave the country. Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in Canada (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The department said the evacuation was temporary and a 'precautionary measure', with staff remaining at the embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem. A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: 'Our embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem remain fully staffed and continue to provide consular services to those who require assistance.' Downing Street would not say whether British nationals should attempt to leave the country. A Number 10 spokesman would only say that the Government's 'key message' was to 'follow the advice of local authorities on staying close to shelter'. Britons have already been advised against all travel to Israel, and those already in the country have been urged to register their presence with the embassy. The Foreign Office has also said land borders with Jordan and Egypt remain open, and consular teams are in position to provide assistance to British nationals who choose to leave Israel by land. The Number 10 spokesman added: 'This is a fast-moving situation. We are keeping all our advice under constant review and the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) continues to plan for a variety of developments, as you would expect.' Sir Keir had earlier insisted that Mr Trump was interested in de-escalation in the Middle East, saying 'nothing' he had heard from the president suggested Washington was poised to get involved. Asked whether the Prime Minister was confident that Mr Trump would not involve US forces in the conflict, a Number 10 spokesman said the UK's position was still that 'we want to de-escalate rather than escalate'.
