Britain welcomes secret US talks with Iran on a Middle East war while deploying air defenses to the Persian Gulf, increasing its involvement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday welcomed the announced talks between the United States and Iran on the war in the Middle East. TASR informs about it based on the AFP report.
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes negotiations between the United States and Iran.
- Britain is deploying short-range air defense systems in the Persian Gulf.
- Donald Trump says his envoys are negotiating with Iranian officials about the conflict.
“I welcome the news of negotiations between the US and Iran,” Starmer told a parliamentary committee. According to him, Britain “knows” that these negotiations are ongoing. Starmer spoke on the phone with US President Donald Trump on Sunday night, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Deployment of defense systems
Starmer announced on Monday that Britain was sending air defense systems to the Persian Gulf to intercept Iranian missiles. “We are rapidly deploying short-range air defense systems in Bahrain… Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,” he elaborated.
The head of the White House says that the US is negotiating with Iran. According to him, the special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner held discussions with the Iranians on Sunday and will continue on Monday. Trump refused to reveal who the officials were negotiating with, but emphasized that it was not the country’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Iran “still has several leaders”, the president clarified.
Communication with the Iranian leadership
“We’re talking to a man who, in my opinion, is the most respected leader,” Trump emphasized. An Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter, according to Reuters, said the US was in talks with Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baker Kalibaf.
Egypt, Pakistan and the Gulf states are brokering communications between Washington and Tehran, but a European official told Reuters it was more about establishing talks between the warring parties than formal mediation efforts.
There are “initiatives” to ease tensions, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said, according to the Mehr agency. The Fars agency, referring to its source, claims that there is no direct or indirect communication with the United States.
