17 h. ago Threat of Iranian attacks on UK now comparable to Russia, watchdog warns

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee said the threat from Iran has increased "significantly" since 2022

Events

18 h. ago Iran’s threat to UK on a par with Russia’s, security report finds

Parliamentary committee says UK is priority target for cyber and physical attacks as well as assassinationsUK politics live – latest updatesIran’s intimidation, including the threat of physical attack and assassination of Iranian dissidents living in the UK, is the single greatest threat from Iran and comparable in scale to the threat posed by Russia, parliament’s intelligence and security committee has found.In a report published on Thursday, it also finds that the UK is a priority espionage target for Iranian cyber-attacks, ranking just below the US and Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Iranian cyberattacks remain a threat despite ceasefire, US officials warn

The FBI and federal cybersecurity officials are warning that the threat of cyberattacks linked to pro-Iranian groups continues despite a ceasefire between Iran and Israel

Events

2 w. ago Without dignity, leaders fell at Trump’s feet in The Hague – and for what? All Nato’s key problems remain | Martin Kettle

The relationship with him is still volatile, the Ukraine strategy still unclear and Europe needs to ensure its collective defenceNato’s Hague summit was an orchestrated grovel at the feet of Donald Trump. The originally planned two-day meeting was truncated into a single morning’s official business to flatter the president’s ego and accommodate his short attention span. The agenda was cynically narrowed to focus on the defence spending hikes he demands from US allies. Issues that may provoke or embarrass Trump – the Ukraine conflict, or whether the Iranian nuclear threat has actually been eliminated by US bombing – were relegated to the sidelines.Instead, the flattery throttle was opened up to maximum, with Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte leading the assembled fawning. On Tuesday, Rutte hymned Trump’s brilliance over Iran; yesterday, he garlanded him as the vindicated visionary of Nato’s drive towards the 5% of GDP spending goal. No one spoiled the party. As the president’s own ...

Politics

2 w. ago Iran US LIVE: Iranian commander threatens America with 'decisive response'

The threat level has been raised in the US after Iranian officials warned of a "decisive response" following the US Air Force's barrage of bombs on key nuclear sites over the weekend

Events

2 w. ago US bombs Iran latest: Trump launches airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites as threat of all

The US president authorised the overnight bombings of key nuclear sites, including the heavily fortified Fordow plant

Events

2 w. ago Iran is the enemy Netanyahu has always wanted to destroy. Even from their bomb shelters, most Israelis support his war | Aluf Benn

Within Israel, Iran is seen as the ultimate threat. The prime minister knows this is his chance to rewrite his bloodied legacy “It’s 1938 and Iran is Germany The Jewish people will not allow a second Holocaust.” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recited slogans like these incessantly for decades, urging action against the gravest threat to the Jewish state – a nuclear-armed Iran. He conveyed the message to successive US presidents. He presented a bomb cartoon at the UN. At countless Holocaust memorial events he described Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the present-day “final solution”.Netanyahu talked and talked about the pressing Iranian threat, but his listeners were not convinced. They dismissed him as an alarmist whose deadline Iran crossed year after year without deploying a nuclear weapon (it still hasn’t). Netanyahu’s critics at home taunted him as a chicken who would never dare to attack Iran’s nuclear installations – unlike his more decisive predecessors, who had ord...

Events

3 w. ago UK moves jets to Middle East as Starmer refuses to rule out defending Israel

Military assets to provide ‘contingency support’ as PM repeats call for de-escalation after Iran’s retaliatory strikesMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe UK is moving jets and other military assets to the Middle East, Keir Starmer has said, refusing to rule out defending Israel from Iranian strikes despite Tehran’s threat that such an action could see British bases in the region also targeted.Speaking to reporters on the plane to the G7 summit, Starmer reiterated his call for de-escalation, saying he had held a series of calls with other world leaders in the hours after Israel’s attack on Iran, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Netanyahu says his attack on Iran was to avert an existential threat. He may have made it worse | Jonathan Freedland

Israel has eliminated many of the brains behind Tehran’s nuclear programme. But don’t expect the regime to back downThis is a war 30 years in the making. Benjamin Netanyahu was talking about the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb back in the 1990s and he has scarcely let up since. For decades he has believed that a nuclear Iran would represent the one truly existential threat to Israel and that military force is the only sure way to prevent it. Several times during the many years in which Netanyahu has sat in the prime minister’s chair, an all-out strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities has been weighed up, debated and planned for. In the early hours of this morning, it finally happened.Netanyahu will be pleased with the early results, including the elimination of key Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. But the ultimate consequences could look very different. By his actions, he may only have accelerated the very danger he has feared for so long.Jonathan Freedland is a Gua...

Events

3 w. ago Netanyahu attacked Iran to avert an ‘existential threat’. He may have made it worse | Jonathan Freedland

Israel has eliminated many of the brains behind Tehran’s nuclear programme. But don’t expect the regime to back downThis is a war 30 years in the making. Benjamin Netanyahu was talking about the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb back in the 1990s and he has scarcely let up since. For decades he has believed that a nuclear Iran would represent the one truly existential threat to Israel and that military force is the only sure way to prevent it. Several times during the many years in which Netanyahu has sat in the prime minister’s chair, an all-out strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities has been weighed up, debated and planned for. In the early hours of this morning, it finally happened.Netanyahu will be pleased with the early results, including the elimination of key Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. But the ultimate consequences could look very different. By his actions, he may only have accelerated the very danger he has feared for so long.Jonathan Freedland is a Gua...

Events

3 w. ago Netanyahu stakes his legacy on war to eliminate Iranian nuclear threat

Israeli prime minister seized chance to strike but risks delaying rather than destroying weapons programme

Events

4 w. ago Netanyahu announces launch of military operation against Iran – video

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel had launched Operation Rising Lion, a 'targeted operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival'. Declaring that Iran had recently take steps to weaponise enriched uranium, Netanyahu said Israel had targeted its leading nuclear scientist and main nuclear enrichment and weaponisation facilities. 'This operation will continue for as many days as it takes.'Israeli military says strikes hit dozens of targets in Iran, including nuclear sites – live updates Continue reading...

Events