Crowds gather in Iran to mourn military leader killed by US airstrike - CNN International

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it is important to “de-escalate and destabilize the situation” in the Middle East in the aftermath of the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani but “understands the position that the Americans found themselves in.”

Raab said he was “not naïve” about the role of Soleimani, the Qods force or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the region – describing the general as a “regional menace” -- but emphasized that “a war is in no one’s interest.”

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said "a war is in no one’s interest." Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday, Raab said “the only people who would gain” from a possible war would be terrorist groups like ISIS who would try to exploit the vacuum created by any war on the ground.

He said he had spoken to Iraq’s Prime Minister Sunday morning, to the Iraqi President Saturday night, and was planning to contact Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

Raab said he is meeting next week with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as his French and German counterparts.

Raab's boss, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has found himself under mounting criticism over his notable absence. Johnson has not issued any statements or cut short his Caribbean holiday in light of the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Hashtag #WhereIsBorisJohnson was trending on Twitter in the UK, and opposition politicians including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticized the PM.

Raab defended his boss, insisting he has been in constant contact with Johnson and “the Prime Minister is in charge.”

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