All eyes are on the Middle East this week following Iran’s decision on Saturday night to launch around 300 drones, cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel. Nearly all of these were stopped by Israel’s air defences along with assistance from the UK, US and Jordan. Since then, the line from the Iranian government is that this is a case of ‘job done’ and they have no plans to go further. However, Israel has pledged revenge and so the matter is far from closed.

Cameron tried to say that Israel was in a way already winning despite the bombardment

This morning David Cameron has used his first full media round since taking on the role of Foreign Secretary to urge the Israeli government to walk back from the brink and not escalate the situation. He told the BBC among other broadcasters that the UK’s advice is to not retaliate and Israel must think with ‘its head, not its heart’. Notably, Cameron tried to say that Israel was in a way already winning despite the bombardment – depicting Iran’s attack as a ‘double defeat’ due to the lack of damage caused and how it means other countries are now turning on Iran for its behaviour.

However, this isn’t the only theory going around. There are UK officials who fear Iran has got something from the attack, even if on paper it looks like a failed mission. That something could be knowledge of Israel’s iron dome defence system and general learnings which mean the next time they attack, it will be more effective.

During the interviews, Cameron was pressed on whether the UK government had been too lenient on Israel actions in Gaza which therefore means its government now feels emboldened to act in this scenario. Cameron dismissed this. The focus of the UK government and other G7 countries is to now use relations with Israel to try to dissuade them from a robust response. This means discouraging Israel from striking anything inside Iran.

While Downing Street is yet to confirm, the expectation in Westminster is that Rishi Sunak will give a Commons statement today updating MPs on the state of play. But the real action today is taking place many miles away.