Lord Cameron says UK was ‘delighted’ to respond to American request to defend Israel

Lord Cameron has told peers the UK was”delighted” to respond to a request from America to defend Israel with the use of RAF fighter jets.

Answering questions in the House of Lords on Tuesday, the former secretary also called for “clear resolutions” from the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) on whether Iran is in breach of promises it has made around nuclear non-proliferation.

Asked by Conservative peer Lord Polak for his thoughts on the efforts of the RAF to work with coalition forces in downing Iranian drones during Saturday’s attack on Israel, Lord Cameron said:”“The Americans asked us to backfill their operations, our joint operations, of what is Op Shader, where we’ve been running a counter-Isil, counter-Daesh operation in Iraq and Syria for many years now.

“And we were delighted to do that to free up more of their planes to defend Israel.

“And, at the same time of course, we told our pilots they should shoot down any projectiles coming Israel’s way in the process and that’s exactly what they did, and they did it with great skill and great ability.”

Asked about Iran’s drone and missiles attack on Israel, Lord Cameron added: “We have sanctioned hundreds of people in Iran, we’ve sanctioned the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) in its entirety.

“We will be discussing with the French and others further steps we can take in order to discourage Iran from this behaviour, further sanctions that should be put in place.

“We also need to look at the work we do together at the International Atomic Energy Authority, where we do need to have clear resolutions where Iran is in breach of the promises it’s made. When you look at this region, who is funding Hamas? Who is funding the Houthis? Who is funding Hezbollah? In every case, the answer is Iran.”