Trump hits out at UK as Starmer seeks ‘viable’ plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump has said he is “not happy” with Sir Keir Starmer after the Prime Minister said he wanted a “viable” option to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has effectively shut the vital oil and gas shipping route by targeting vessels in response to the US-Israeli air strikes.

Mr Trump has called for countries, including the UK, to join a mission to protect shipping.

But the Prime Minister, who has so far resisted the US president’s demands, said: “We’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impacts.”

Mr Trump said the UK’s approach to the conflict was “terrible”.

“I was very surprised with the United Kingdom, because the United Kingdom, two weeks ago, I said, ‘Why don’t you send some ships over’ and he really didn’t want to do it.

“I said ‘You don’t want to do it? We’ve been with you. You’re our oldest ally and we spend a lot of money on Nato and all of these things to protect you’.”

He added: “I think it’s terrible. I was very surprised.”

The US President suggested the UK will “maybe” be involved in the Strait of Hormuz mission, but they should be involved “enthusiastically”.

He also criticised Sir Keir for seeking the advice of aides on the issue following a phone call between the two leaders on Sunday.

“I said you don’t need to meet with your team, you’re the Prime Minister, you can make your own… why do you have to meet with your team to find out whether or not you’re going to send some minesweepers to help us or to send some boats.”

Earlier, at a Downing Street press conference, Sir Keir said he would not allow the UK to be drawn into a “wider war” in the Middle East.

The UK could potentially provide mine-hunting drones to the mission rather than a warship, although Sir Keir insisted no final decisions had been made.

“It is a discussion, we are not at a point of decisions yet, I want to really stress that,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he had discussed the issue with countries in the Gulf and Europe, as well as Mr Trump.

“It’ll have to be something which is agreed by as many partners as possible, is my strong view. We’re not at that stage yet, but we are working hard.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged the impact of rising oil and gas prices on households in the UK.

He announced the Government had issued a “legal direction” to energy companies to pass on savings from government policies already announced.

And he set out a £53 million package of support for “vulnerable” heating oil customers, focused on “those households that are most exposed”.

He also raised concerns about claims that suppliers of heating oil have cancelled orders and then hiked bills as prices have spiked.

“I simply will not allow companies to make huge profits from the hardship of working people,” he said. “That kind of conduct is completely unacceptable, so if the companies have broken the law, there will be legal action.”

England will receive £27 million to support heating oil customers, which will be distributed by local authorities.

Northern Ireland, which has the highest proportion of homes reliant on heating oil of the UK’s four nations, has been allocated £17 million, Scotland £4.6 million and Wales £3.8 million.

The Treasury said the funding has been allocated based on census data, with the money going to the devolved governments to distribute.

But the Government was not able to provide an estimate of the number of households that would benefit from the extra support.

Further measures could follow if the crisis continues, with Sir Keir declining to rule out a more significant intervention once the current energy price cap expires in July.

Asked whether he could implement a similar policy to the energy price guarantee introduced by Liz Truss in 2022 at a cost of tens of billions of pounds, he said it was “not sensible to say within a number of months’ time, not knowing what the situation will be, that the following will be ruled in or be out”.

He said: “My instinct is always to help working people in a situation like this.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir’s relationship with the US was not “deep enough”.

She told the Press Association: “It is not clear the Prime Minister has been involved in the planning process. All of our allies seem to be worried about how slow he is.

“I’m worried that he’s not deep enough in conversations with the US. But before we start sending ships out, we need to know what the plan is.

“What I want to see is the Prime Minister coming up with a plan for the national interest, not just what his Labour backbenchers want.

“This is not just about the Labour Party. This is about the whole country.”