Hello from The National and welcome to the View from London – your weekly guide to the big stories from our London bureau
Base overload
An eight-count indictment identifies the men Washington believes are responsible for plotting against its presence in the UK.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali Al Hassani, an Iraqi national were charged with terrorism-related offences over alleged plots in Europe and the US, including at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in September.
Al-Saadi is the Kataib Hezbollah commander who has been in US custody in New York since May and we wrote about how he is taking control of his circumstances in the US here.
Iran's alleged reach is remarkable. The US Air Force was reported to have pulled air refuelling tankers out of a second UK airbase this week on intelligence of an imminent drone attack on the site. Some of the tankers were seen at another base just 7km away the next day.
I wrote this week it was imperative that there is a Europe-wide mindset change to see this “sabotage” as present and dangerous. Not just a small, practical adjustment in public messages. It requires a political response to the changing landscape that has already come out of the Ukraine war and now the spreading focus of the Iran conflict much further afield.
Ensuring security
Europe is essentially being challenged to secure its own domain at a time of global flux.
After 700 businesses were attacked, tonnes of food wasted and fires started, Iran has been blamed by the French for the supermarket refrigerator sabotage last month.
The surprising toll of the cyber attack has been disconcerting for the authorities and the public. The large-scale attack affected other European countries, such as Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands.
G7 briefings
European G7 foreign ministers could not rule out a new escalation in the Strait of Hormuz after summit talks on Tuesday in which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly called the Iranian leadership “lunatics”.
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman briefed ministers in Paris after an unscheduled stop on his way back from Washington, where he met US President Donald Trump.
Mr Rubio emphasised his belief that the embargo on Iranian energy and imports was working. "Never has Iran ever faced the inability to sell energy in the global market like they are today," he said.
Jean-Noel Barrot, the French Foreign Minister, warned that the “risk of a resumption of strikes and an escalation has not been entirely ruled out”.
“However, we support the efforts being led by countries in the region to find a path towards the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a political solution that prevents the resumption of strikes,” he added.
AI safety
French President Emmanuel Macron has secured the backing of dozens of countries for a declaration that "an agenda for protecting children in the digital age is absolutely fundamental".
"A significant proportion of our children and adolescents are building their emotional lives and their understanding of the world through interactions with entities that mimic human personalities – entities to whom they reveal everything, often with disastrous results," he told the landmark Paris Peace Forum, an event that coincides with Armistice or Remembrance Day each year.
The backers, including the UAE, pledged to expand their efforts across five pillars – health, nutrition, education, protection and psychosocial well-being in the digital age by a 2045 deadline.
The UK is not on the list but Andy Burnham spoke to the French leader on Monday night and pledged to make AI safety a priority of next year's G20 presidency.
Iraq's future
Chatham House’s annual Iraq Initiative Conference is examining the challenges facing the new government. Join our channels on Wednesday after 09:20 GMT for a panel with The National's Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi, Iraqi prime ministerial adviser Yousif Al-Dunainawi, and Hoshyar Zebari, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Political Bureau.
Immediately after, the US special envoy for Iraq, Tom Barrack, discusses the Trump administration's priorities for the country and the future of US-Iraq relations after the end of Operation Inherent Resolve.
The think tank will look at the prospects for a new US-Iraq partnership built around security co-operation, economic investment and regional stability.
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