Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom John Healey said few would mourn the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling Iran’s regime a source of terror. He warned of rising regional threats as Iranian missiles landed near British troops in Bahrain.
Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom, John Healey said that only few people will mourn the death of Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who died in a US-Israeli military operation in Iran on Saturday.
Iranian TV confirmed the death of 86-year-old Khamenei early on Sunday as Iran continued to retaliate the strikes of Israel and the United State of America. It fired missiles at Gulf neighbors and Israel.
US President Donald Trump had previously claimed Khamenei died in the attacks and urged the Iranian people to seize “the single greatest chance… to take back their country”.
“Iran and the regime he’s led for so long, it’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain,” Healey told Sky News in an interview.
Giving the first UK Government response to Mr Khamenei’s death, Healey told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I think few people will mourn the Ayatollah’s death, not least the family and friends of those thousands of young protesters murdered on the streets of Iranian cities.
“Iran and the regime he’s led for so long, it’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring and exporting terror, including to countries like Britain.”
The Defence Secretary also warned Iran is now “lashing out in an increasingly indiscriminate and widespread way,” pointing to attacks on an airport in Kuwait and hotels in Dubai and Bahrain.
Healey added that the Iranian missiles and drones had landed within “a few hundred yards” of some 300 British troops at a base in Bahrain, while two missiles had been fired in the direction of Cyprus, where thousands of UK personnel are based.
“We don’t believe they were targeted at Cyprus, but nevertheless it’s an example of how there is a very real and rising threat from a regime that is lashing out widely across the region,” he said.
On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said UK aircraft were in the sky as part of defensive operations, which continued into Sunday.
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