Daily briefing Sunday 15th March

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0:44Iran has been blocking the vital waterway, which carries 20 % of the world's oil on its southern border. The Sunday Times understands the UK could deploy mine-hunting drones. Ed Miliband has confirmed that such weapons are being considered. We do want to work with our allies to seek to get the strait reopened and as you say, there are a range of things that we can do, including autonomous mine-hunting equipment. It's in all of our interest to get the strait reopened. I will also say that we also need to de-escalate this crisis because the best and most conclusive way to get the strait reopened is to get this conflict to come to an end.

1:21But absolutely, it's something we're working with our partners on. An Iranian spokesman has told Times Radio the conflict in the Middle East is a war of aggression. Eshmel Bagai, who represents the Iranian Foreign Ministry, says Iran is being demonised. Britain is allowing US air bases to be used for defensive operations, but Bagai says that is simply a euphemism. If any country attack you, what would be your reaction? You cannot simply use euphemism or use double speak saying that the country's participation in this war would be to defend certain countries. Any participation in this war would be regarded as participating in the United States-Israel war of aggression against Iran.

2:04Israel says it's not planning to hold direct talks with Lebanon in the coming days, contradicting reports in Haaretz. The Israeli newspaper cited sources saying the two countries were going to dispatch representatives. But Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says it's not happening. He's also accusing Iran of committing war crimes. The Iranian regime is targeting civilians. It's not only the way they're acting against Israel, It's the way they are acting against 10 states in this region, attacking civilian infrastructure and so on. This regime, not for the first time, committing war crimes and the whole world must see.

2:48Almost 900 riot police will be deployed for the Al-Quds Day demonstration in central London this afternoon. The protest is linked to support for the Iranian regime. Officers will use the River Thames to separate demonstrators from counter-demonstrators. The Iranian regime has been accused of killing tens of thousands of protesters after a recent uprising. One of the organisers of today's demonstration, Faisal Bodhi from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, has told Times Radio that he can see the Iranian government's point of view. You call these peaceful protests. They were mosques that were firebombed.

3:20They were armed protesters who were shooting at innocent civilians in the street to incite unrest, to make it seem like it was the authorities who were doing it. People are entitled to peaceful protests, but when they turn violent and they are goaded and incited and put up to it by the West in order to ferment an armed insurrection against the government, then obviously anywhere in the world is going to take quite a dim view of it. And you can follow The Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online. This episode of The Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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