Starmer: Britain Moving Jets to Middle East to Support Regional Security

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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Starmer: Britain Moving Jets to Middle East to Support Regional Security

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Britain is moving additional military assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East to provide support across the region, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters on Saturday as he was en route to a Group of Seven meeting in Canada.

Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, the day after Israel launched an air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon.

"We are moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support in the region," Starmer said.

Britain already has fighter jets in the Middle East as part of an operation to counter threats in Iraq and Syria.

Crews began deployment preparations on Friday morning, when it was clear the situation in the region was deteriorating, a spokesperson for the prime minister said.

Further refueling aircraft from British bases have been deployed, and additional fighter jets will be sent, the spokesperson added.

Iran warned the United States, United Kingdom and France that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help stop Tehran's strikes on Israel, Iran state media reported Saturday.



Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah Warns US Against Intervening in Israel-Iran Conflict

 Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
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Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah Warns US Against Intervening in Israel-Iran Conflict

 Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Protesters hold Iranian flags during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)

Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah warned on Sunday it would resume attacks on US troops in the region if the United States intervenes in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

"We are closely monitoring the movements of the American enemy's army in the region," Kataib Hezbollah Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement. "If America intervenes in the war, we will act directly against its interests and bases spread across the region without hesitation."

Founded in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah is one of the elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran. The group, a key pillar of Iran's network of regional proxy forces, has claimed responsibility for dozens of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US forces in both Iraq and Syria.

Early last year, Kataib Hezbollah announced the suspension of all its military operations against US troops in the region in response to efforts by the Iraqi government.

Kataib Hezbollah is part of a coalition of Iran-aligned groups known collectively as the "Axis of Resistance" — an umbrella of hardline Shiite armed factions that have claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since the onset of the Gaza war about 20 months ago.

Iraq, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, is striving to avoid upsetting its fragile stability while focusing on rebuilding after years of conflict.

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