The contingency planning is part of wider tabletop exercises that have been going on in the Foreign Office over the past week as tensions ratchet up in tit-for-tat strikes by Hezbollah and Israel, and as Iran warns of retaliation over the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month…reports Asian Lite News
Officials are drawing up plans to evacuate British nationals from Israel and across the Middle East if a feared Iranian retaliation triggers a regional war. More than 1,000 UK military personnel have already been put on standby to get Britons out of Lebanon amid escalating regional tensions.
But i understands that the Government is also looking at whether it will need to get people out of Israel and other countries in the Middle East, for example using charter planes if commercial flights are grounded.
Many major international airlines have already suspended flights to and from the region as tensions rise. A Whitehall source said that officials are “really, really concerned” about the potential for a rapidly growing conflict. The White House spokesperson John Kirby warned on Monday evening that the US has prepared for “significant attacks” by Iran or its proxies as soon as this week.
The contingency planning is part of wider tabletop exercises that have been going on in the Foreign Office over the past week as tensions ratchet up in tit-for-tat strikes by Hezbollah and Israel, and as Iran warns of retaliation over the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.
A region-wide evacuation could be modelled on the efforts to get Britons out of Israel and Gaza after many commercial planes were grounded following the 7 October terror attack by Hamas, with the Government effectively booking charter flights. Around 60,000 British nationals were believed by the Government to be in Israel and Gaza following the 7 October attack.
The Prime Minister urged Iran to refrain from attacking Israel in a direct conversation with the country’s president on Monday evening. Speaking to Masoud Pezeshkian, who has been in office for barely a month, Sir Keir Starmer warned of “a serious risk of miscalculation”, Downing Street said.
It came after Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz jointly urged Iran to “refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions” earlier on Monday.
They also called for Israel and Hamas to immediately resume talks on a ceasefire in Gaza. They have endorsed the calls from the leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar for a three-phase framework that would see Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza, Hamas returning hostages to their families and the safe and effective distribution of humanitarian aid.
In a joint statement released on Monday evening, the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy expressed their “full support for ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions and reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza”, adding that “all parties must live up to their responsibilities”.
It added: “We expressed our support for the defence of Israel against Iranian aggression and against attacks by Iran-backed terrorist groups. 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.”
The hope in Whitehall is that Iran feels it can carry out a show of strength similar to the drone attack on Israel in April that does not lead to wider escalation after civilian deaths were avoided.