Starmer says UK moving military assets to Middle East
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the United Kingdom is moving more military assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East to provide “contingency support in the region”.
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 refuelling aircraft from UK bases have been deployed, and additional fighter jets will be sent, the spokesperson added.
Separately, Starmer discussed the escalating Israel-Iran conflict in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Starmer’s office said in a statement that the two leaders had discussed the “gravely concerning situation in the Middle East” and agreed on the need to de-escalate.
De-escalate by joining the fight? Wtf... UK US Israel, everything they say, the opposite is true.
Iran could shut Strait of Hormuz if Israel ramps up attacks on energy
Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a US-based think tank, says that if Israel carries out even more “dramatic” attacks on Iranian oil and energy infrastructure, Iran could shut the critical Strait of Hormuz.
“That is their ultimate level of escalation,” Toossi told Al Jazeera, of the potential move by Iran.
Iranian news agency IRINN reported on Saturday that the country was considering shutting the Strait, which is the only marine entryway into the Persian Gulf.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, about 20 percent of global oil consumption flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re not there yet, but today, Israel struck a gas field in southern Iran. And Iran in the attacks on Haifa has reportedly struck some energy facilities there,” Toossi noted.
“So there has been a tit-for-tat on energy facilities today, and if this escalates, that’s going to potentially threaten all the energy coming out of the Persian Gulf.”
Iran cancels talks, but Trump says US negotiators still ready
The US president seems to be operating on the assumption that there still can be these indirect talks. Now, obviously, Sunday has already arrived in some parts of the world, and what we know is that it doesn’t appear that there’s any sign of those talks.
Still, the Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is at the ready – ready to talk from a US standpoint.
The US president, for his part, was very active on social media on Friday, but as of Saturday, he didn’t reappear for almost 24 hours, after we saw the retaliatory attacks on Israel.
Then he posted on Truth Social that he had spoken with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. They had talked extensively about the war, and the US president said he found the situation very alarming. We know that Putin, for his part, offered to mediate, and the US President responded by saying that Putin’s war should end, of course, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one that the US president promised to end on day one [of his presidency].
But, of course, that has not happened.
Iran says it will limit cooperation with IAEA over its nuclear sites
A senior Iranian official says his country will “no longer cooperate” with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, while criticising it for its silence over Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
“It makes no sense that these peaceful sites come under attack and that the agency remains silent,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Iran will no longer cooperate with the agency… as it once did,” he said, adding that his government would not inform the IAEA of the “special measures” it intended to take to protect its nuclear materials and equipment.
