\n<\/p>\n
Ministers are facing calls to publish legal advice given to the government on Israel\u2019s war against Iran after reports emerged that the attorney general had warned that any UK involvement beyond defensive support would be illegal.<\/p>\n
Richard Hermer, the government\u2019s most senior legal officer, is said to have raised concerns internally about the legality of joining a bombing campaign against Iran.<\/p>\n
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the government should publish Hermer\u2019s advice. \u201cThe last thing we need is for the UK to be dragged into another illegal war in the Middle East by the US,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An official who had seen Hermer\u2019s official legal advice told the Spectator, which first reported the story, that \u201cthe AG has concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as the UK steps up efforts to persuade Donald Trump\u2019s administration to refrain from joining Israel\u2019s airstrikes in Iran. Keir Starmer said on Thursday there was a \u201creal risk of escalation\u201d in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Asked about reports the US president had already approved a plan to attack Iran but had not yet decided whether to go ahead, the prime minister said: \u201cThe situation in relation to Israel-Iran is obviously fast-moving and in those circumstances, it\u2019s really important to cling on to the key principles here.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously all of us, UK included, are very concerned about the nuclear programme that Iran is developing, we\u2019ve long been concerned about that. Also, [we] completely recognise Israel\u2019s right to self-defence, but the principle is that we need to de-escalate this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a real risk of escalation here that will impact the region, possibly beyond the region, akin to Gaza, and obviously it\u2019s already having an impact on the economy. So I\u2019ve been absolutely clear we need to de-escalate this. Yes, the nuclear issue has to be dealt with, but it\u2019s better dealt with by way of negotiations than by way of conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is to meet Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, in Washington DC on Thursday as the US weighs up its options. Whitehall sources said his message would be that the UK\u2019s priority is diplomacy and de-escalation.<\/p>\n
So far the UK has not played any role, and it has not been involved in intercepting Iranian missiles directed at Israel.<\/p>\n
Starmer is considering whether to provide the US with military support if Trump decides to bomb Iran, and whether to approve the use of the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean for the attack. Hermer\u2019s advice could limit the degree of UK support for the US.<\/p>\n
There is no requirement for the government to hold a vote on military action, but in practice he would come under pressure to do so if the UK joined in airstrikes. There was no vote to give permission for UK forces to conduct airstrikes in Yemen, which are ongoing this year.<\/p>\n
No 10 refused to comment on Hermer\u2019s legal advice about joining any US action in Iran.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the attorney general\u2019s office said: \u201cBy longstanding convention, reflected in the ministerial code, [the question of] whether the law officers have been asked to provide legal advice and the content of any advice is not routinely disclosed. The convention provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, said it was not \u201cjustifiable\u201d for the UK to get involved in the conflict and should \u201ckeep away\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking to BBC Radio 4\u2019s World at One, Thornberry said: \u201cI think that we haven\u2019t been attacked ourselves and, unless our allies have been attacked and really need our assistance to defend themselves, then we shouldn\u2019t be involved and we should keep away, because I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s justifiable. I think the only way in which we are going to solve this matter is through negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the legality of enabling or participating in an attack on Iran, she said that international law \u201cis fairly clear on this\u201d, adding: \u201cif you need to defend yourself then clearly you must use force, or if you are defending an ally, then you can use force, or if there\u2019s an agreement at the United Nations as a group, that something needs to be done, then we have a justification, but there isn\u2019t any of those justifications at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday to discuss a range of scenarios and ongoing diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n
Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether to launch strikes against Iran. The president has suggested to defence officials it would make sense to do so only if the so-called bunker buster bomb is guaranteed to destroy the country\u2019s critical uranium enrichment facility, which is between 80 and 90 metres inside a mountain at Fordow.<\/p>\n
<\/span>‘I may do it, I may not’: Trump gives update on US response to Iran \u2013 video<\/span><\/p>\n Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire for days after Israel launched airstrikes that it said were aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials claim their nuclear programme is peaceful and that Israel has caused hundreds of civilian casualties.<\/p>\n Taking Fordow offline \u2013 either diplomatically or militarily \u2013 is seen as central to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, after the International Atomic Energy Agency found that the site had enriched uranium to 83.7%, close to the 90% needed for nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n Miatta Fahnbulleh, an energy minister, said Starmer would take any decisions with a \u201ccool, calm head\u201d and be guided by international law.<\/p>\n \u201cLegal advice is for the prime minister and I think that\u2019s where it will stay, and you can understand why I won\u2019t comment on that,\u201d she told Times Radio. \u201cBut what I will say is that we have a prime minister who is a lawyer, and a human rights lawyer, he will obviously do everything that is in accord with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, said the UK could \u201chide behind legal advice at a time of crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked if she believed Hermer was right to sound a warning, Patel told Times Radio: \u201cI don\u2019t think we can hide behind legal advice at a time of crisis and national security when we have to work alongside our biggest ally in the world, the United States, when they look to us for potentially \u2026 setting out operational activities through our own military bases.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ministers are facing calls to publish legal advice given to the government on Israel\u2019s war against Iran after reports emerged that the attorney general had warned that any UK involvement beyond defensive support would be illegal. Richard Hermer, the government\u2019s most senior legal officer, is said to have raised concerns internally about the legality of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[325,327,326,266,324,321,328,323,322,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-8727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-advice","9":"tag-defence","10":"tag-involvement","11":"tag-israeliran","12":"tag-legal","13":"tag-ministers","14":"tag-policy","15":"tag-publish","16":"tag-urged","17":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}