Trump ‘not happy’ with UK over Iran and says Starmer is ‘not Winston Churchill’

Donald Trump has said he is “not happy” with the UK after it did not initially allow the US to use its bases for strikes on Iran, and added that Sir Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”.

It is the latest in a series of broadsides from the US president over the UK’s position on the Middle East war.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary confirmed that a Government charter flight will take off from Muscat, Oman, “in the coming days” to bring vulnerable British nationals back.

And after a British base on Cyprus was hit by a drone, the UK confirmed it would send a warship to the region.

Sir Keir decided on Sunday that UK bases including the joint UK-US Diego Garcia site in the Chagos Islands and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire could be used in the conflict, but only so the US can strike defensively to protect countries being targeted by Tehran.

Mr Trump has complained to newspapers that he was “very disappointed” that the UK had not allowed the US to launch initial strikes from its bases.

On Tuesday, he said the UK had been “very, very unco-operative with that stupid island that they have” in an apparent reference to Diego Garcia.

Speaking from the Oval Office about support from European nations for US action in Iran, the US president praised Nato chief Mark Rutte but said Spain had been “terrible”.

“I’m not happy with the UK either,” he said.

He added: “That island… It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land there, it would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised.

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

Sir Keir on Monday said his government “does not believe in regime change from the skies”, in an apparent criticism of the US president’s bombing campaign.

The Prime Minister told his Cabinet on Tuesday that the decision on Sunday to allow the US to use UK bases for defensive strikes was “lawful and in the national interest”.

Downing Street earlier insisted the US was still a “staunch” ally.

“It is reflected in decades of that special relationship, whether it is on national security, on trade or beyond.”

That came after Mr Trump said Sir Keir had “not been helpful” and “should have helped”, also calling the transatlantic rift “very sad” in an interview with The Sun on Monday.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones told broadcasters the UK was not involved in the “first wave” of strikes at the weekend because it “didn’t meet the test the Prime Minister’s set out”.

He told Sky News the president’s words do not “negate the fact that we make decisions, as I say, on the basis of legality and British interest”.

It will also send two Wildcat helicopters.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs on Tuesday that some Britons will be repatriated on a Government charter flight from Muscat in Oman.

Some 130,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East with the Foreign Office amid evacuation planning.

She said: “We are … working with airlines on increasing capacity out of Muscat for British nationals, with priority for vulnerable nationals, and a Government charter flight will fly from Muscat in the coming days, prioritising vulnerable nationals.”

A handful of commercial flights are already bringing thousands of stranded Britons back to the UK, but the vast majority of departures from the region have been cancelled because of widespread airspace closures.

America and Israel have continuing to pound Iran since killing its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, while Tehran and its allies have retaliated against Israel, neighbouring Gulf states and oil and gas production facilities.

In Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group, while the US embassy in Riyadh came under attack.

Mr Trump has said America planned for the conflict to last for some four or five weeks, and has signalled that the US wants to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, its navy and any hope of it obtaining nuclear weapons.

However, Mr Trump has provided scant detail about what the US’s exit plan from the war might be.