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STORMONT’S FIRST MINISTER Michelle O’Neill has said it is “absolutely the wrong call” for the UK Government to “join in this war” in Iran.
The Sinn Féin vice president also defended her decision not to attend a briefing on the situation alongside Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.
Little-Pengelly virtually attended the briefing with senior UK government security advisers, alongside the first ministers of Scotland and Wales.
O’Neill said she is in “ongoing contact with the Irish and British governments” and “working to support our citizens in the region”.
But she said she “will not be part of any briefing by the British government on their military operations”.
Little-Pengelly told MLAs that she was “absolutely baffled” that “some appear to support” the Iranian regime, and claimed that Sinn Féin “have had a long-running relationship with Iran”.
Asked about her decision not to attend the briefing at the weekend with her Executive counterpart, O’Neill said she has engaged with the UK and Irish Governments and her first priority remains seeing those travelling or working in the region “extracted from what is potentially a very dangerous and catastrophic situation”.
She told reporters at Stormont: “We all know many people that are there and we all know that people are really, really worried, families are really, really anxious.
“Our job is to try to remain engaged and to get those people safely extracted. But I fundamentally disagree with the fact that the war has begun, and I fundamentally disagree with the British Government’s approach.”
She earlier said: “I think this is a reckless war. This is a war that should never have begun.
“Where is this all going to end? Because over the course of the last 48 hours things are really spiralling out of control.
“We see more and more countries are now engaged in this war. This is death, this is destruction. This is not going to bring about a peaceful outcome.
“What we need to see is dialogue, what we need to see is adherence to international law, what we need to see is conversation that actually brings this to an end and allows people to safely get on with their lives.
“With what has happened over the course of the last 48 hours, I’m just fearful for where this is all going to go and I think it is absolutely the wrong call of the British Government to join in this war, to join and all that’s happening in the Middle East, because I again, I just don’t see where’s the cut-off point? Where are they going to stop?”
O’Neill described the Iranian regime as “brutal”, “repressive” and one that “failed to live up to human rights standards”, but “it’s not for international committee to come in, breach international law, throw out the rules of diplomacy, and actually have us in a situation where today lives are being lost hour after hour.”
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the Iranian regime “has had very strong connections with terrorists who tried to destroy Northern Ireland”, and Iranian people now have the opportunity “to pursue democracy for their own benefit and nobody else’s”.
“I shed no tears for the ayatollah, and I won’t concern myself about whether individuals want to argue the toss about whether the intervention of the weekend was legal or not,” he said.
“This happened. This regime was trying to assassinate the President of the United States, supports terror all around the world, and he’s gone.”
Asked if he supported the UK Government’s involvement he said: “I think it is a matter of fact that we are involved. I think we should have been involved earlier. At least we shouldn’t have denied the use of our RAF bases.”
Speaking during Executive Office questions later, Little-Pengelly described a “murderous appalling regime” in Iran.
“I absolutely stand with the Iranians who have suffered from this oppressive, evil regime for many, many decades. I am absolutely baffled as to why some in this chamber support, or appear to support that regime,” she told MLAs.
She went on to claim: “When I looked up why that possibly could be, it was very clear that, for example, Sinn Féin have had a long-running relationship with the Iranian regime going back many, many decades.
“I do not understand that. They oppress women’s rights, they have murdered women for the audacity for not wearing a head shawl.
“They have killed people because they are LGBT. They have been a source of supporting terror right across not just that region, but across the globe, they have been a regime that has been oppressive and evil and murderous, and it does not deserve any support from any single person in this chamber.”
Little-Pengelly said the role for Northern Ireland is to look out for its citizens in the Middle East, describing thousands in the region, particularly the UAE.
“I attended the briefing on Saturday. I’ll be attending a briefing on this later on today as well, but the messaging is very clear. If you’re in the region, get registered. Those who are registered will be getting information directly to their phones, particularly in relation to potential evacuation, but other alerts and updated information as well.
“There are people in the region with British passports, Irish passports and both, and we’re trying to ensure that that information is sent to everybody as clearly as possible on our social media channels.”
She said there are people from Northern Ireland serving with the UK Armed Forces in the area, families of those serving as well as other working and visiting.
She also expressed concern about the potential impact on supply chains.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the US-Israeli air strike campaign that began at the weekend has killed 555 people in Iran so far.
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