Liam Fox says UK media underplays Iran terror threat
Liam Fox says security services know the Iran threat but the media has underplayed it, citing RAF Fairford and a Manchester plot against Jews.
How it was covered
- GB News was the only channel found covering it.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC One, Channel 4, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
Former defence secretary Liam Fox has said the UK security services are not underestimating the threat from Iran, but he argued that the media has underplayed the danger to the UK. He said the Iranian regime is one of the most malign regimes in the world and that there is a history of Iranian proxies attempting terrorist attacks in Britain.
The interview referred to RAF Fairford and an attempted terror plot in Manchester against Jews, saying there is always a link back to one country, Iran. It noted that proceedings are active in a number of cases, so the discussion was kept general.
Fox pointed to a past Hezbollah-linked plot to build up fertilisers, potentially for a bomb in West London. He said Iran has a track record of using third parties, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and sympathisers in Europe, to carry out political violence on its behalf. He said the threat must be taken very seriously.
He said the security services and police understand the threat, but the media has not reported it widely enough, especially in the printed press. He said there has been a lack of emphasis on the Iranian threat for reasons he does not understand.
The discussion turned to comments by Marco Rubio. The interviewer asked whether it was curious that an American figure had said more about foreign actors than the UK prime minister, while the Labour government had been quiet. Fox said there has been a general underplaying of the domestic risk from Iran. He said Britain is used to discussing Russian activity and crimes committed on British streets, and that it may be time to talk much more about the threat from Iran.
The interview also covered Labour's direction on Israel. Fox described the issue as binary and said politicians should be asked whether they believe Israel has a right to exist.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Liam Fox stated that Iranian proxies have a history of attempting terrorist attacks in the UK. | |
| Liam Fox stated that UK security services are not underestimating the threat from Iran. | |
| RAF Fairford and an attempted Manchester plot against Jews were linked to Iran in the interview. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
GB News used a studio interview with Liam Fox to frame Iran as an underreported domestic threat. It focused on Fox's claim that the security services understand the danger while the media and Labour have played it down. The segment also widened into Labour's stance on Israel and a comparison with Marco Rubio's comments.
- “I don't think that the security services are underestimating the threat from Iran.”
- “I think perhaps there's been a lack of emphasis in our media about the threat from Iran for reasons I don't understand”
- “In general, there has been an underplaying of the risk that Iran poses to us domestically in this country.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.