𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Iranian thugs could order terror attacks in the UK in response to US and Israeli airstrikes, John Healey has admitted.

The Defence Secretary told Sky News the crumbling Iranian leadership is “lashing out” by firing rockets and drones at civilian targets in neighbouring countries.

And Mr Healey warned Iranian military leaders are increasingly picking their own targets, as chaos erupts in Tehran.

The senior Government minister admitted security chiefs will be analysing whether the UK could be the target of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks.

Donald Trump has warned Iran against further retaliation for the joint US-Israeli strikes on the country which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, telling the country the US would counter “with a force that has never been seen before”.

Israel and the US conducted 900 strikes in 12 hours on military bases, nuclear sites and government buildings across Iran using F-35s, F-22s and – for the first time – one-way attack drones.

Sky News host Trevor Phillips asked Mr Healey: “Do you have concerns about security situation here at home?

“Are we, for example, going to raise the threat level?”

Mr Healey responsed: Well, that’ll be for the Home Secretary to make any announcement on that, but I’ve got full confidence in our intelligence agencies and our ability to deal with the terror threats. They proved that in the past.”

Pressing Mr Healey for more detail, Mr Phillips asked: “But that would be under review and under discussion today, will it?”

And the Defence Secretary revealed: “Absolutely. When you get… When you get when you get a regime like this, lashing out inthe Middle East, indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilian as well as military targets, when you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf, then of course, our force protection in the region is at its highest. Our alert and our vigilance in the UK is also high.”

Mr Healey branded the Iranian regime “evil”, adding they had ordered 20 foiled terror plots in the UK.

He said: “It’s a source of evil, murdering its own citizens and sponsoring an exporting terror, including to countries like Britain.

“And the concern now, of course, is that this regime is lashing out.

“It’s lashing out in an increasingly indiscriminate and widespread way, and people will be really concerned that it’s not just military targets, but civilian airports like Kuwait hotels in Dubai, and Bahrain are being hit. And so that’s why we’ve strengthened the UK defences in the region.

“Twenty terror plots, directed at Britain, sponsored by Iran, tens of thousands of young people protesters, murdered on the streets in the last few months in Iran. 57,000 Iranian drones fired by Russia into Ukraine, proxy groups at destabilise countries right across the region. Make no mistake. This is a regime that menaces other countries, exports terror, murders its own citizens, and must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapons programme.”