A former MI6 chief declared on Tuesday Iran ‘holds the upper hand’ over America after Donald Trump ‘lost the initiative’.
Sir Alex Younger said Tehran has ‘played a weak hand pretty well’ and added: ‘I regret having come to this conclusion.’
He said there is ‘no love lost’ between him and the Islamic Republic but went on to tell The Economist: ‘The reality is the US underestimated the task, and I think as of about two weeks ago lost the initiative to Iran.’
Sir Alex said Iran ‘has been more resilient’ than expected by ‘delegating the authority’ and ‘dispersing their military capability’.
The regime also ‘understood the significance of the energy war’ and ‘globalised the conflict’ as a ‘very good way of putting a direct price on the US’.
He said the language Mr Trump chose ‘confirmed’ to them they are in a ‘war of existence’ while for him it is ‘a war of choice’.
Sir Alex, who led MI6 from 2014 to 2020, concluded: ‘That’s imbued them with more staying power than the US. They know that now, and that is giving them the whip hand.’
His remarks came as Sir Keir Starmer was warned by one of his most senior MPs that unless the country invests properly in defence today ‘we will regret it’.
Iran ‘holds the upper hand’ over America after US President Donald Trump (pictured on March 24) ‘lost the initative’, according to former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger
Sir Alex Younger (pictured) said Tehran has ‘played a weak hand pretty well’ and added: ‘I regret having come to this conclusion’
Tan Dhesi, chairman of the influential defence select committee, said: ‘The UK needs to take its defence and security seriously or be sorry later. We were seeing preparations by Donald Trump, the ramping up of military presence around Iran and, unfortunately, it was embarrassing that we could not muster one single Royal Navy asset.
‘President Trump is not as interested in our security and we have Putin to the east. We also have half a billion pounds of submarine maintenance that we cannot complete.’
Mr Dhesi has called for a ‘clear path’ towards spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch joined attacks on Sir Keir, saying: ‘He has been in power for nearly two years and he still doesn’t know what he’s going to do.’
