Rishi Sunak urges 'calm heads' to avoid 'significant escalation' after Israel ... trends now
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Rishi Sunak called for 'calm heads' today after Israel launched strikes on Iran in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile blitz.
The PM insisted that Israel 'absolutely has the right to self defence' as he stressed the facts of the overnight action are still being established.
But he said the priority must be to defuse tensions in the region, with fears the Middle East could be plunged into a much wider conflict.
Answering questions after a speech in London this morning, Mr Sunak said: 'We have condemned Iran's reckless and dangerous barrage of missiles against Israel on Saturday and Israel absolutely has the right to self defence.
'But as I said to Prime Minister Netanyahu when I spoke to him last week, and more generally, significant escalation is not in anyone's interest. What we want to see is calm heads prevail across the region.'
After days of heavy diplomatic pressure from allies for Israel to limit retaliation, the city of Isfahan in central Iran was struck at 5am local time.
Israel is reported to have targeted an Air Force base near Isfahan which long has been home to Iran's fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats - purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Rishi Sunak called for 'calm heads' today after Israel launched strikes on Iran in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile blitz
Unconfirmed footage shared on social media appeared to show anti-aircraft fire striking over the city of Isfahan in central Iran, which hosts one of the nation's nuclear facilities
A base near the city hosts one of Iran's nuclear facilities, although US military sources reportedly said the target was not believed to be nuclear.
Iran played down damage to its military facilities and outright denied any nuclear plants were destroyed, claiming that 'so far, no large-scale strikes or explosions by any air threat have been reported.'
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron is in Italy at a
