Israel moves to high alert for large-scale Iran attack

A Downing Street spokesman said Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday evening and expressed his deep concern over the risk of miscalculation in the region.

“He called on Iran to refrain from attacking Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests,” the spokesman said.

Joe Biden spoke to the Prime Minister and the leaders of Germany, Italy and France on Monday evening and discussed their “support for the defence of Israel against Iranian aggression and against attacks by Iran-backed terrorist groups”, according to a joint statement.

“We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place,” it said.

In an earlier joint statement, Germany, UK, and France had called for Iran and its allies to “refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions” and jeopardise a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Iran and its allies will “bear responsibility for actions that jeopardise this opportunity for peace and stability,” the leaders from the three countries said.

The fragile ceasefire negotiations took another hit on Sunday as Hamas announced it wouldn’t participate in the planned talks on Thursday, instead calling on Egypt, Qatar and the US to implement a ceasefire deal presented by the US president in late May.

Mr Biden told CBS News on Sunday that his plan, which was endorsed by the G7 and the UN Security Council, “is still viable.”

“And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can,” he said.

Simmering tension

On Monday, long simmering tension between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant broke into the open.

Mr Gallant ridiculed his boss’s war aims in public and Mr Netanyahu accused him of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative”.

Speaking at the Knesset foreign affairs and defence committee on Monday, Mr Gallant mocked those who imagined that Israel could achieve “total victory” over its enemies.

“I hear the heroes with the drums [of war], [talking about] ‘total victory’ and other nonsense,” he told the committee.

Mr Netanyahu immediately hit back: “When Gallant adopts the anti-Israeli narrative, he harms the chances of reaching a deal for the release of the hostages,” said a statement issued by his office.

“Israel has only one option: to achieve a decisive victory, which means eliminating Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities and freeing our hostages – and this victory will be achieved,” it added.