The UK’s terror threat level is “absolutely” under review following US and Israel strikes on Iran, the defence secretary told Sky News.
Since the strikes on Saturday, Iran has carried out retaliatory attacks on Israel, US military installations around the Gulf, and Gulf Arab states, including the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, and the global business and tourist hub of Dubai.
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Asked on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips if the UK’s terror threat level is now under discussion, John Healey said: “Absolutely.
“When you get a regime like this lashing out in the 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 said Home Secretary Shabanah Mahmood is responsible for making any announcement on the terror threat being raised in the UK.
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“But, I’ve got full confidence in our intelligence agencies and our ability to deal with the terrorist threats,” he added.
The current threat of a terror attack in the UK is “substantial”, meaning an attack is likely.
On the terrorism threat rating system, substantial is in the middle, with “severe” and “critical” above it.
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It has been at “substantial” since February 2022, when it was downgraded from “severe” (an attack is highly likely), where it was for four months following a suicide attack outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
Threat levels are determined by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, an independent body based within MI5.
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Low – an attack is highly unlikely
Moderate – an attack is possible, but not likely
Substantial – an attack is likely
Severe – an attack is highly likely
Critical – an attack is highly likely in the near future
Mr Healey revealed to Trevor Phillips two missiles were fired from Iran towards Cyprus, where the UK has an RAF base.
He and Cyprus’s president said they do not believe RAF Akrotiri on the island was the target.
There are currently two large American aircraft carrier strike groups off the Cyprus coast and it is believed they were the target.
The defence secretary also said the UK has taken down Iranian drones, and missiles landed on a base in Bahrain with 300 British personnel.
Allegedly hostile Iranian activities are suspected to have taken place on UK soil.
In 2023, a Chechen-born man was jailed after being found guilty of spying on a London-based dissident Iranian TV station to help terror plotters.
Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, was accused of conducting surveillance on the west London headquarters of Iran International as part of a plan by others to carry out a terror attack.
Dame Priti Patel, the Conservative shadow foreign secretary, told Trevor Phillips the government should “absolutely be concerned” about the security threat in the UK after the Iran strikes.
“The most important measure that they could take right now is the protection of our homeland. That is the duty and the responsibility of the government,” she said.
“So they will be, I trust that they will be, absolutely looking at every single aspect of the threat levels and the security implications for our country.”
