The terror threat level in the UK is under review, amid concerns about Iranian retaliation to a volley of US and Israeli strikes, the Defence Secretary has said.
John Healey accused Iran on Sunday of “lashing out in an increasingly indiscriminate and widespread way” after it fired retaliatory missiles and drones at targets across the Middle East including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The current threat level is set at substantial, which means an attack is ‘likely’. This is the third out of five levels set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC): severe would mean an attack is ‘highly likely’, and critical means an attack is ‘highly likely in the near future’.
Mr Healey was asked by Sky News on Sunday morning whether the threat level was being reviewed, to which he responded: “Absolutely”.
“When you get a regime like this lashing out in the Middle East indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilians and military targets, when you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf then of course our force protection in the region is at its highest. Our alert and vigilance in the UK is also high,” he said.
Mr Healey added that Iran had sponsored 20 attempted terror attacks in the UK in recent years – all of which were thwarted by security services – and pointed to its supply of 50,000 drones to Russia to support its four-year war in Ukraine.
“Iran and the regime he’s led for so long, it’s a source of evil. Murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain. And, the concern now, of course, is that this regime is lashing out,” Mr Healey said.
“People will be really concerned that it’s not just military targets, but civilian airports like Kuwait, and hotels in Dubai and Bahrain are being hit.”
Several non-military targets were hit in the Iranian retaliatory strikes, after US and Israeli attacks killed at least 201 people across the country, according to Iran’s Red Crescent. At least 153 people were killed after a reported strike hit a girls’ primary school in southern Iran, Iranian officials said.
Iran’s retaliation has killed several people, including three US service members.
The Defence Secretary earlier on Sunday said British troops and civilians have been put at risk by Iran’s “indiscriminate attacks”.
Since the strikes began, British military personnel in Bahrain had been “within several hundred yards” of a retaliatory missile and drone strike on Saturday. Another two missiles had also been fired in the direction of Cyprus.
