Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has hit back at Jeremy Corbyn after the Labour leader accused the Government of fuelling conflict with Iran.
Mr Corbyn said Britain should not be stoking a military escalation in the Gulf without “credible evidence” Iran was behind the attacks on two oil tankers which dramatically heightened tensions in the region.
In response, Mr Hunt – who has said it was “almost certain” Tehran was behind the attacks – accused him of persistently failing to stand up for British interests and British allies.
“Pathetic and predictable,” he tweeted.
“From Salisbury to the Middle East, why can he never bring himself to back British allies, British intelligence or British interests?”
In a statement, the Foreign Office said “no other state or non-state actor could plausibly have been responsible” for the incident.
It was broadly in line with the assessment of the United States which has firmly blamed Iran – a claim which Tehran denies.
Mr Corbyn tweeted: “Britain should act to ease tensions in the Gulf, not fuel a military escalation that began with US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement.
“Without credible evidence about the tanker attacks, the government’s rhetoric will only increase the threat of war.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel