Donald Trump has hinted the Unired States may “not come to the UK’s rescue” in future after Sir Keir Starmer’s “big mistake” in the Iran war.
Speaking to GB News Presenter Bev Turner, the US President made clear although America was “always there” to help the UK, he “may not be anymore”.
Earlier in his press conference, Mr Trump took aim at the UK’s aircraft carriers and Sir Keir’s “three week” delay in sending support to the Middle East.
He swiped: “We had the UK say that we’ll send, this is three weeks ago, we’ll send our aircraft carriers. Which aren’t the best aircraft carriers, by the way. They’re toys compared to what we have.
“But we’ll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over. I said, ‘oh, that’s wonderful, thank you very much, don’t bother. We don’t need it’.”
Questioned by GB News’s Bev Turner on his “disappointment” in the Prime Minister’s support in the war, Mr Trump admitted he felt his conduct was “shocking”.
He told GB News: “I think he’s a lovely man, but I think he did something that was shocking. He didn’t want to help us.
“And maybe in particular that country, we were the longest bond, the longest ally. Australia too, Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia.
Donald Trump has told GB News the US ‘may not come to the UK’s rescue’ in future after Keir Starmer’s ‘big mistake’ on Iran
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“I wouldn’t say anybody was great other than the five countries in the Middle East. We never really had very much support.”
Recalling Sir Keir’s offer to send ships to the Middle East, Mr Trump told Bev that he had said he had “already won” and didn’t need the vessels.
Mr Trump said: “Your Prime Minister was not there, as you know. He was there after we won. He said we’d like to send some ships, I said we already won, we don’t need them anymore.”
Pressed by Bev on whether there was an “explanation” from Sir Keir as to why he wasn’t quick to support his operation, Mr Trump paused to think before revealing: “He didn’t have to, I didn’t ask him. I just said, did you just tell me no?”
Donald Trump also launched a fresh attack on the UK and Keir Starmer’s aircraft carriers, comparing them to ‘toys’
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He admitted: “We’re always going to be there – or at least we were – I don’t know about anymore, to be honest with you, I have to be honest.
“We were always there when they needed help, we always would have been there when they needed help. We’re there to protect Europe from Russia. In theory, it doesn’t affect us, we have a big, fat, beautiful ocean.
“But we’re there to protect Nato, to protect them from Russia. But they’re not there to protect us. It’s ridiculous.”
The US President said Keir Starmer made a ‘big mistake’ in the Middle East
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Criticising Sir Keir’s stance on the Chagos Islands, Mr Trump said that his “disappointment” in Sir Keir “started with the island”.
He told Bev: “I was very disappointed when the Prime Minister said, I won’t be able to – it started with the island, the island that the indigenous have claimed away from your country, and for some reason you went for it.
“And all of a sudden, indigenous people never saw the place, they never saw it. He was afraid that we would do something to him.
“And when we needed the island to land that beautiful B2 bomber, we were told we can’t use it, we’d have to fly back to Missouri, which is a 17-hour flight as opposed to a couple of hours. And I said, you got to be kidding. Not good. They made a big mistake.”