Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron warns Israel against 'escalation' over Iran

I am pleased to say that the Foreign Secretary is with us. I haven't interviewed him since he became Lord. Well, it's great to be back. It's great to see you, my Lord. How is he going to fix the Middle East right? I don't think there is any. An easy way to do this and the first thing we need to reflect on is the massive scale of the attack that Iran attempted against Israel: 301 weapons, 110 ballistic missiles, 40 cruise missiles, this was very significant and of course if you are sitting in Israel, this tomorrow you are rightly thinking, we have every right to respond to this and they do, but we urge that they not escalate in many ways.

This has been a double defeat for Iran, the attack was an almost total failure and they have revealed to the world that they are the evil influence in the region and they are prepared to do this, so our hope is that there will be no retaliatory response and instead the world's focus should shift to Hamas, they are still holding the hostages they were offered. a deal where prisoners can be released from Israeli jails in exchange for some of those hostages and there will be a pause in the fighting, that's what needs to happen next and that's what I hope we can focus on so that Biden say: "take the win", that's the UK's opinion too, I think it's correct.

I totally understand those in Israel who want to see more, but I think this is a time to think with your head and your heart and to be smart and tough, and I think the smart thing we can do is recognize that Iran's attack was a failure and we want to keep the focus on that, on the malign influence of Iran and, in fact, focus on looking at what's happening in Gaza and releasing those hostages, including, of course, the British. Nationals who already know and who have been there for more than six months, yes, the United States has reaffirmed its ironclad commitment to Israel, how far does the UK's commitment go?

We are supporters of Israel and supporters of Israel's right to self-defense, our role in the military operations, so to speak, was largely to complement the United States in the operation that we jointly conducted against Iraq and Syria, so we provided planes to do it so that the Americans could do more over Israel's skies, but at the same time We said look, if there are drones coming from that region towards uh or missiles towards Israel, we will shoot them down and that's what our very skilled pilots. We will do it again, if there is another attack from Iran.

Iran has said that they are not going to attack again and after the failure of their attack I am not surprised, but I know absolutely that we always keep these things under review, we are trying to avoid

escalation

and the actions we take together with the Americans and others clearly They have been successful. helped stop that

escalation

because the attack on Iran was an almost total failure. Do you think Netanyahu has good judgment? I have known Prime Minister Netanyahu for more than 20 years. We have had many discussions and disagreements, but our job is to work with the Israeli government. uh government um to support them in their campaign to get rid of Hamas and I think that's true, Israel cannot be expected to live next to a uh a territory that is governed by people who carried out the October 7 attacks, but Our job is to work with the Israeli government, we will have our disagreements, we have some very difficult conversations with them, for example about the need to get aid to Gaza, where I have been extremely hard on them about it, but I think rightly so because the situation in Gaza is unacceptable there are too many people starving there are too many people who cannot get water and medicine now the Israelis have said that 500 trucks a day open the port of Ashod to receive more help, that is a great help and we need to make sure After it is fulfilled, do you think he has good judgment?

Look, we have to work with the prime ministers and the governments that are there and we have, as I say, they have good judgment or many things, but there are times when we deeply disagree and when we do, we should have frank conversations, that It's what friends do, what has been this bad judgment lately? Well, I think letting more in and not allowing more in helps Gaza, I think that was a mistake, we were very frank with the Israelis throughout that process. they needed to open the crossing points they needed to let in more trucks they needed to make sure there was adequate deconfliction so that humanitarian workers could move around Gaza and we would not let them know more incidents like the terrible carnage of the world.

Central kitchen workers, I think it was poor judgment not to open Gaza to aid sooner and we had that discussion with him. He now he said that's going to happen and I'm very glad he said it's bad judgment or good judgment. trial to hit sovereign Iranian territory in Damascus, that was something the Israelis decided to do, we have not done a I know right, let me answer the question, what is it? I can completely understand the frustration that Israelis feel when they look at the revolutionary guard Iranian and they see the terrible things they have done around the world including the support they give to Hamas and of course Hamas was responsible for October 7th and that's where all of this starts so you can completely understand the frustration yeah , but what about Iran's frustration over the flattening of part of its sovereign territory?

I would say there is a huge degree of difference between what Israel did in Damascus and, as I said, the 301 weapons launched by the state of Iran into the state of Israel for the first time a state in state attack 101 ballistic missiles 36 cruise missiles 185 drones that is a degree of difference and I think it is something reckless and dangerous that Iran has done and I think the whole world can see all this countries that in some way have asked themselves, they already know what the true nature of Iran is, it is there in black and white, what would Britain do if a hostile nation crushed one of our consulates?

Well, we would take it, you know, we would take very strong action and Iran Say that's what they did right, what they did, as I said, was a massive attack, so they were right to respond, but they overreacted, that's what you're saying, what I'm saying is that the attack they carried out was on a large scale. scale much larger than that of people AC right to respond well, countries have the right to respond when they feel they have suffered aggression, of course they do, but look at the scale of that response if those weapons had not been deactivated, if there had There could have been thousands of victims, including civilian victims.

I think it is a very important point to keep in mind. Let me tell you about your role as May's Foreign Secretary. What was it like meeting Donald Trump after some of the undiplomatic things you said about him? I'm a diplomat so it's different um look I'm glad we had the meeting, you know, very much in line with the work of

foreign

secretaries and prime ministers, we met with opposition leaders in other countries, we met with potential future presidents. I remember meeting Mitt Romney when I was prime minister, that's what the meeting was about, we were discussing a variety of things like Israel and Gaza, like Ukraine, maybe particularly Ukraine, it was a private meeting, so I'm not afraid.

I'm not going to ask, it's just the fact that you called him a xenophobe misogynist uh protectionist Stupid wrong uh he mentioned it um I'm not going to comment on the meeting, but it was no, no, he actually didn't if you Let's go down that route um No, it seems like it was a good me. Change your point of view. I think all politicians, we all know that there is a history of things that we have said about each other, but ultimately, Britain and the United States. They are important partners, we don't know who will be president after November, it's not up to us to get involved, it's up to the Americans to elect their president, then we work with them before I let you go, remember this?

I think we have a The car in the clip approaches 10 Dowy Street. I should say that I'm not really sure who this security detail might be. I just opened the door to hell. David Camon. I didn't expect K to retire. I'm GL. That clip will still be in your kind of paper so I'm very glad I gave you that well look often things leak into politics and Rishi very kindly offered me this job and I accepted and surprisingly we managed to keep it a secret and I remember when they summoned me. to Downing Street for that to happen formally, I hope it's as soon as he offered you no, it's true, it was a bit surprising, but I parked the car, we parked the car around the corner and I said, let's go further away. around the corner we don't want to screw it up at the last minute and it was nice to be part of a surprise yes, under what circumstances under what circumstances would you consider being prime minister again none I'm not going to apply for this job I'm very happy to work as

secretary

of Foreign Affairs.

Reishi is an excellent boss, he knows what he thinks. He is always the best brief person in the room. He has a phenomenal brain and on issues like this, actually, you know he's a brilliant and great diplomat. leader, so it's a pleasure to work for him and, uh, when should I go to the field? When he believes he is right, when do you think he is right? Well, I had the fixed-term Parliament Act, so you didn't have my day. I have no choice but to look, I think we have a very strong record to defend and right now you can see that taxes are going down, inflation is going down, which means that over time interest rates will go down, people will see that We have a plan. and the economy is getting better and the other side doesn't have a plan, let's wait and see, we should see what happens, you know, when it comes, okay, it's a pleasure to see you, my Lord, thank you very much for taking the time, thank you.