Trump ‘should cease bombing Iran’ earlier than UK helps reopen essential Strait of Hormuz… as Starmer calls in legal professionals to determine international coverage once more
British forces will not be sent to the Strait of Hormuz until the US and Israel stop attacking Iran, it was claimed today.
Keir Starmer is set to resist Donald Trump‘s calls for help patrolling the crucial channel – through which around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass – until ‘hot’ clashes have stopped.
The PM is also believed to be seeking guarantees that international law would not be breached – with suggestions that might require a UN resolution.
The UK position is becoming clearer after the US president vented his fury at Nato allies overnight, amid rising concern about the global fallout from Iran blocking the Strait.
Mr Trump branded the premier ‘disappointing’ in his latest free-form press conference in the Oval Office.
Keir Starmer is set to resist Donald Trump’s calls for help patrolling the crucial channel – through which around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass – until ‘hot’ clashes have stopped
Mr Trump branded the premier ‘disappointing’ in his latest free-form press conference in the Oval Office
He renewed his attack that Sir Keir is ‘no Churchill’ – pointing to a sculpture of Britain’s wartime premier on the table behind him.
Mr Trump also swiped at Emmanuel Macron – saying the French President would be ‘out of office very soon’ – after Paris flatly rejected the US demand for help reopening the Strait.
In a post on his Truth Social site earlier, the President was left to insist: ‘WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!’
A government source told The Times that the Strait of Hormuz was ‘too hot’ for a UK deployment to protect commercial shipping.
‘Once the offensive attacks and retaliation are over, you can look at supporting the safe opening of the area for shipping,’ they said.
With the war now in a third week, oil prices remain above $100 per barrel as a result of Tehran’s continued blockade.
The impact is already being felt in the UK, with pump prices surging and fears the energy cap will spike in July.
Polls have suggested that Brits are heavily opposed to the US action and alarmed about the effect on the economy.
Sir Keir insisted on Monday that the UK will not be drawn into a ‘wider war’, and said he was working with partners including in Europe on a ‘viable collective plan’ to free up navigation in the region.
Britain could potentially provide mine-hunting drones to the mission rather than a warship, although the PM stressed no final decisions have been made.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has been critical of Sir Keir’s response to the war, but nonetheless rejected the president’s attack on him as ‘wrong’.
‘It’s very childish, this war of words and these spats,’ she said yesterday.
Reform’s Robert Jenrick also had a dig at the president last night, saying he did not like to see a British premier ‘berated’ publicly.
Meanwhile, Israel said it had killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow aimed at further weakening the Islamic Republic’s leadership.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were ‘eliminated’, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said.
Tehran has confirmed both killings and fired salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel.
