'America is back!' Boris Johnson hails Donald Trump's Iran efforts as ex-PM urges Keir Starmer to stand with the US in Middle East

Speaking to the People's Channel, Johnson said: “What’s happened has been absolutely dramatic. It’s an astonishing fact that, as we speak, Israel is in total command of the airspace over Iran.

"An Israeli warplane can fly anywhere over Iran with impunity. No Iranian plane can fly over Israel. Israel is now able to exercise its military mite over a huge, huge region.

"That is going to lead to profound changes in the Middle East. And the most important thing is that it shows that America is back.

"Donald Trump’s actions have shown huge chunks of the world, that were very downcast after the retreat from Afghanistan under Joe Biden, it’s given them a huge encouragement in the idea of American leadership again.”

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• 'Start of the end!' Starmer's allies sound 'General Election alarm' as Labour MPs mount rebellion
• ‘Terrified!’ Martin Daubney questions whether Labour is ‘tying itself in knots’ over Middle East
• Inheritance tax grab 'putting lives at risk' says son of farmer who took own life over Budget fears

Johnson drew direct parallels between the Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Iran situation, criticising Sir Keir Starmer's response.

"What is so ridiculous about all this is that every Government, virtually in the world, supports and is grateful for what Israel is doing," he said, adding that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons served global security interests.

The former Prime Minister also argued that Israel's actions were "a public-spirited thing" beyond self-defence

He explained: "It’s also been another blow to Putin. Another of his allies has gone down. Now the mullahs of Tehran are looking very weak, very vulnerable. Moscow has been unable to do anything.

"What we’ve got to do now is really ram home that Israel and Ukraine are really two peas in a pod. Two young, tech-savvy democracies, strong friends and allies of the UK and the West generally.

"Two countries that are facing brutal autocratic attempts to extinguish them.

"Both Israel and Ukraine face existential threats from powers Iran and Russia that would literally like to wipe them off the map. And they’ve been wonderful proxies for us."

The ceasefire between Israel and Iran came into effect on Tuesday morning, ending what Trump called "the 12 day war".

The US President congratulated both nations for having the "stamina, courage, and intelligence" to end the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his Government's agreement to Trump's proposal in a statement on Tuesday morning.

"In light of the achievement of the objectives of the operation, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel has agreed to the President's proposal for a bilateral ceasefire," Netanyahu said.

However, Trump had choice words for both Israel and Iran after the ceasefire was broken earlier today.

He told reporters: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing.”