British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday urged Israel to refrain from retaliating after Iran’s recent drone and missile attack, which he described as a near total failure due to the effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and support from the U.S., Britain, France, and Jordan.
The attack involved more than 300 missiles and drones and followed a suspected Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy compound in Syria on April 1.
Cameron emphasized rationality in response: “I think they’re (Israel) perfectly justified to think they should respond because they have been attacked, but we are urging them as friends to think with head as well as heart, to be smart as well as tough,” he told BBC TV.
In discussing further actions, Cameron highlighted the current sanctions regime against Iran. “Yes, absolutely. We already have 400 sanctions on Iran. We implemented a whole new sanctions regime at the end of last year, which is proving very effective. We’ve sanctioned the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in its entirety. And we’ll continue to look at what further steps we can take,” he explained.
Additionally, Cameron mentioned that Britain would continue working with allies to potentially impose more sanctions on Iran and reiterated the importance of Israel focusing on achieving a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza conflict.
