Iranian retaliation strikes landed within “a few hundred yards” of British troops in Bahrain.
Fears are intensifying over the Iranian response (Image: Getty)
Iranian thugs could order terror attacks in the UK in response to US and Israeli airstrikes, John Healey has admitted.
The Defence Secretary told Sky News the crumbling Iranian leadership is “lashing out” by firing rockets and drones at civilian targets in neighbouring countries.
And Mr Healey warned Iranian military leaders are increasingly picking their own targets, as chaos erupts in Tehran.
The senior Government minister admitted security chiefs will be analysing whether the UK could be the target of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks.
Donald Trump has warned Iran against further retaliation for the joint US-Israeli strikes on the country which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, telling the country the US would counter âwith a force that has never been seen beforeâ.
Israel and the US conducted 900 strikes in 12 hours on military bases, nuclear sites and government buildings across Iran using F-35s, F-22s and â for the first time â one-way attack drones.
Sky News host Trevor Phillips asked Mr Healey: “Do you have concerns about security situation here at home?
“Are we, for example, going to raise the threat level?”
Pressing Mr Healey for more detail, Mr Phillips asked: “But that would be under review and under discussion today, will it?”
And the Defence Secretary revealed: “Absolutely. When you get… When you get when you get a regime like this, lashing out inthe Middle East, indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilian as well as military targets, when you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf, then of course, our force protection in the region is at its highest. Our alert and our vigilance in the UK is also high.”
Mr Healey branded the Iranian regime “evil”, adding they had ordered 20 foiled terror plots in the UK.
He said: “It’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring an exporting terror, including to countries like Britain.
“And the concern now, of course, is that this regime is lashing out.
“It’s lashing out in an increasingly indiscriminate and widespread way, and people will be really concerned that it’s not just military targets, but civilian airports like Kuwait hotels in Dubai, and Bahrain are being hit. And so that’s why we’ve strengthened the UK defences in the region.
“Twenty terror plots, directed at Britain, sponsored by Iran, tens of thousands of young people protesters, murdered on the streets in the last few months in Iran. 57,000 Iranian drones fired by Russia into Ukraine, proxy groups at destabilise countries right across the region. Make no mistake. This is a regime that menaces other countries, exports terror, murders its own citizens, and must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapons programme.”
John Healey told Sky Newsâs Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: âThis is a really serious and deteriorating situation, (with) rising risks of increasing Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks.
âLet me give you a couple examples. Yesterday, we had 300 personnel on that Bahrain base that was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones, some of them within a few hundred yards of where they landed.
âWe had two missiles fired in the direction of Cyprus.
âWe donât believe they were targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless, itâs an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region, and that requires us to act.â
Mr Healey also warned that Iranian missile commanders were âincreasingly allowed to choose their own targetsâ as the country was âlosing its command and controlâ.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, the US President said: âIran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before.
âTHEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.â
His post came after Iranâs paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it would launch its âmost-intense offensive operationâ ever in response to the deadly Saturday morning strikes.
âThe most-intense offensive operation in the history of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will begin in moments, targeting (Israel) and American terrorist bases,â it said in a statement.
Iranian state TV confirmed the death of 86-year-old Khamenei early on Sunday.
