LONDON -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there was no indication that mainland Britain was being targeted by Iran, while stressing the need to protect British interests and avoid further escalation in the Middle East.

"We carry out assessments all the time in order to keep us safe, and there's no assessment that we're being targeted in that way," Starmer told reporters on Monday while visiting a school in southeast London, according to The Guardian.

He made the remarks when asked whether Britain could become a target of Iran following weekend reports that Iran had fired two ballistic missiles at the US-British military base Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago.

Starmer also said that any attempt to reopen the Strait of Hormuz required careful consideration and a viable plan.

He said his number one priority was to protect British interests and de-escalate tensions, and the government would discuss every possible lever to address cost-of-living pressures arising from the Iran conflict.