THE UK will feel “reverberations” from the war in Iran, Defence Minister Al Carns has said when questioned about possible fuel shortages.
Asked about a warning from BP that shortages will hit within the next three weeks, Carns told GB News: “So first of all, I think it’s worth noting, I’ve always been told when you’re putting troops in harm’s way, three real things. One, you need a legal mandate. Two, you need a plan. And three, you got to think to the finish.
“This war in Iran has cut off a large chunk of the world’s energy resources and a whole plethora of sort of critical minerals, etc, that we are going to feel the burden of.
“The Prime Minister called a Cobra just several days ago, to really look across government, work out the impacts, take the totality of those impacts, and then make sure measures were put in place to protect and indeed support the population as we move forward.
“But let’s be really clear on this. There are reverberations from that war on Iran that we will feel here in the UK and across the rest of the world, actually.”
On the UK not having a say in the conduct of the war, Carns said: “First of all, we don’t want a seat at the table in something we don’t know how it’s going to end, and we don’t have a clear understanding of the plan, but we do continue to work diplomatically to ensure we’re trying to get to a resolution de-escalation.
“The second one is, what does that de-escalation really mean, that’s around the Strait of Hormuz. So how can we collectively support an international commitment to support shipping going into the Middle East and importantly, coming out that will affect both oil and gas prices and a variety of other minerals?
“And then the third point to that question was really about energy security, which I think is what you’re trying to get to. We’ve got to move on a green transition, and we’ve got to continue to do what we’re doing in the North Sea to ensure that we have a plethora of capabilities that sustain energy prices and don’t allow them to fluctuate to the point of where they become unaffordable.”
He said UK bases on Cyprus have been adequately defended: “What I can say when you talk about the defence of a static airfield, the solution, in some cases, is not a mobile destroyer. It’s actually ground-based air defence. And unfortunately, we saw 70% cut in some of the funding to ground based air defence in the last government.
“There’s no point looking back. This is about looking forward. We’ve sent a ton of capability into Cyprus prior to the conflict, and indeed, thickened it out. And as we speak right now, and it’s amazing, I’ll tell you now, it’s amazing what the RAF regiment are doing in certain parts of the globe right now, shooting down drones on a daily basis. It’s phenomenal.”
