Once again Israelis, Iranians and civilians across the entire Middle East find themselves thrown into a war of uncertainty. The speed at which the war is escalating and the numbers of lives that have already been lost is a stark reminder of the price of the failure of diplomacy.
Few will mourn the death of Ayatollah Khamenei; indeed it is impossible to ignore the voices of Iranians who yearn for the cruel regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran to be overthrown. The scenes in the UK of the Iranian diaspora celebrating on Saturday night highlight the extent of this feeling.
Yet any long-term regime change must be led by the Iranian people for it to be successful. Without clear aims and an exit strategy it is hard to see that how stability and security will emerge either for Iran and its people, or for Israel whose destruction the Iranian regime continues to call for.
With leaders on all sides of this war that have shown time and again they do not care about the interests of those they govern, we know that innocent civilians will pay the price.
Our thoughts are with all civilians in the region and those here concerned for their safety and welfare.