Iran has 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’s state media reported.
Iran has been firing massive barrages of missiles and drones at Israel since last Friday, when the latter launched a shock campaign of strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, citing an existential need to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Most of the Iranian missiles and drones have been intercepted by Israel’s air defenses, though some have slipped through, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds as they hit urban areas.
US officials have been quoted as saying that the military is already shooting down drones and missiles. Neither France nor Britain is known to have helped out in stopping the attacks, though Paris has said that it could do so, and London has not ruled out the possibility.
The US, Britain and France, along with Washington’s regional allies, all cooperated last year in helping to stop two massive missile and drone barrages that Iran fired at Israel amid spillover from the war in the Gaza Strip.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Tehran had evidence to show US forces supported the intense bombardment campaign Israel launched against Iran.
“We have solid proof of the support of the American forces and American bases in the region for the attacks of the Zionist regime military forces,” Araghchi told foreign diplomats in a meeting broadcast on state TV.
The US has denied that it directly took part in Israeli attacks. On Saturday, President Donald Trump said that if Iran attacks the United States in any way, it will face the might of the US military “at levels never seen before.”
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the US had nothing to do with an attack on Iran overnight and that “we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!”
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters that he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as other world leaders, while calling for de-escalation, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported.
Asked about Iran’s threats to hit the assets of countries that are helping to defend Israel, he said, “We are moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support in the region.”
Pressed as to whether Britain will become involved in defensive operations, he said only, “These are obviously operational decisions and the situation is ongoing and developing, and therefore I’m not going to get into the precise details.”
According to London’s The Times, the UK was not informed about Israel’s initial strikes on Iran in advance, amid deteriorating ties between the two countries.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France could help defend Israel against an attack from Iran “if in a position to do so.”
“If Israel were to be attacked in retaliation by Iran, France, if in a position to do so, would take part in protection and defense operations,” he said during a press conference.
Meanwhile, Iraq has approached the Iranian and US governments in a bid to prevent being caught up in a regional escalation, officials said Saturday.
The government in Baghdad is a close ally of Tehran, but also a strategic partner of Iran’s arch-foe the United States, which has some 2,500 troops in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist coalition.
The government in a statement late Saturday said that it “reiterates its firm and unequivocal rejection of any violation of Iraqi airspace or its use in military attacks carried out by the Zionist entity against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
It called on the United States to “uphold its responsibilities… to prevent aircraft belonging to the Zionist entity from once again breaching Iraqi airspace to carry out such attacks.”
A senior Iraqi security official told AFP that Baghdad had also asked Tehran not to strike US targets in its territory.
“The request was made. They promised us positive things,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
An Iraqi government official, who also requested anonymity, said Baghdad had made an official request to Washington to help preserve the integrity of its airspace, citing the United States’ role as the leader of the international coalition against the Islamic State group.
Baghdad on Friday lodged a complaint with the United Nations over Israel’s use of its airspace to attack Iran.