UK should support efforts to topple Iran, says Priti Patel ...Middle East

Britain should support efforts to topple the Iranian regime that is “wiping out a generation of young people”, says Priti Patel.

The shadow Foreign Secretary, who is on a three-day visit to Washington, criticised the UK Government for “sitting on the fence” when the US bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities.

But Patel stopped short of saying the UK should “throw its lot in” with another US offensive as Donald Trump builds a huge military presence in the region to pressure Tehran.

The US President lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer this week, again criticising the deal with Mauritius which the Prime Minister says is vital to secure the US base in Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands. Trump also appeared to suggest that the UK was withholding support for the use of that base and RAF Fairford in Gloucester for an attack on Iran.

In an interview with The i Paper, Patel said the UK should pursue policies that aim to change the Iranian regime, which brutally repressed a popular uprising earlier this year, saying that is “unsustainable”.

“I absolutely think we should. We’ve seen the massacre of anything up to about 35,000 people. They are wiping out a generation of young people.”

Washington “must prevail” in its efforts to end Iran’s nuclear enrichment and neuter its ballistic missile programme, she said, suggesting she would support US targeted strikes if not. “We cannot carry on with an Iranian regime that is murdering its own people.” 

‘Iran is a threat to UK’

Asked if the UK should “throw in its lot” with US-led action on Iran, the shadow Foreign Secretary held back. But she suggested that strikes against Isis targets in Syria might be a precedent for UK backing.

“We have to be very careful as to what we sign up to, for obvious reasons.

“Syria wasn’t that long ago when we were involved in targeted strikes… Now they’re not like for like – but Iran is a threat to our country. Isis are a threat to our country. The question right now is, what is the role of Britain and where is the British Government on this?”

Israel is pressing Donald Trump to take a hard-line stance on Iran and Patel has consistently been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in UK politics – even losing her job as aid secretary in 2017 for unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials. 

But even Patel is critical of some actions of the Israeli government in the wake of the October 7 attack. The “weaponisation” of settlements is “not acceptable”, she said. 

“I’ve been public about issues around settlements. That is not helpful, constructive to peace and ending the chaos and all of the terrible suffering that we have seen.”

Patel is meeting senior Republicans like Ted Cruz, as well as officials from the US Treasury department and Pentagon, during her visit in which she intends to keep up the pressure over the Chagos deal, of which she has been a leading critic.

She denied that she is preparing for a post-Trump America and insisted that the US remains a reliable ally. She conceded, however, that the US President’s threats to seize Greenland by force and claim that Nato allies, including British troops, “stayed a little back” from the Afghan front line was damaging.

“Frankly that was a wake up call for the [US] administration that they couldn’t conduct themselves in that way,” she said.

Patel’s political opponents say that her long record in government is both a help and a hindrance to her now she is in opposition. She knows the stark realities of administration and is candid and pragmatic in private. They add that she must be embarrassed by some of the populist positions she must adopt.

But there is little of that evident as she lays into Starmer’s Government over its “incredibly cack-handed” handling of the Chagos deal.

Tories and Republicans are ‘sister parties’

She said the Conservatives and the Republicans remain “sister parties” but draws a distinction between them and the Maga movement. She said figures like US Vice President JD Vance had a point when they say Europe risks “civilisational erasure” driven by mass migration.

The former home secretary is clearly nettled when pressed over her own record on the issue which saw net migration balloon to record figures under Boris Johnson.

The so-called “Boriswave” is one of Reform’s most effective attack lines with figures like Robert Jenrick criticising his former Conservative colleagues for allowing the numbers of legal migrants to soar. But asked if she regretted not standing up to Johnson on the issue, Patel suggested other Cabinet ministers at the time should shoulder the responsibility.

“First of all, I’m not going to go over the past, and you’re very welcome to go back and look at the stuff that was going on there. It was actually across government.

“It was other government departments. It’s all of them. That’s why we will be doing things differently going forward.”

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On Jenrick, she said: “Look he was there and didn’t do anything about it but I don’t want to get into any of that sort of stuff.

“You should also remember that people [who] are criticising me [were previously criticising me] for being too harsh on illegal migration. There was not enough government support from perhaps some of those that did criticise me back then and still want to criticise me.

She added: “Not enough support for Rwanda, not enough support for deportations and removal strategies, despite the third country agreements that I was securing. The world has changed and moved in a different direction since then.”

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