Trump on Keir Starmer amid West Asia crisis: 'We are not dealing with Winston Churchill'

Donald Trump

• US President criticizes UK PM Starmer's hesitation on Iran strikes
• Trump says UK-US special relationship is "not what it was"
• Starmer allows UK bases for defensive, not offensive, US actions

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Expressing dissatisfaction over UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's initial reluctance to aid the offensive strikes on Iran, US President on Tuesday said: “This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with,” in reference to UK PM.

Briefing the media in White House alongside the Chancellor of Germany, the American President said he was “not happy with the UK” because of the initial refusal from London to let Washington use the British base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean during its first strikes on Iran.

Starmer had issued his strongest rebuke yet of Trump’s action in Iran, saying the UK did not believe in “regime change from the skies” and defended his initial decision not to allow the use of British bases to conduct the strikes.

But subsequently, he said UK would allow the use of its bases for defensive action to protect allied forces and nations in the Gulf and Middle East who have been hit by a wave of retaliatory strikes after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Earlier today, In a phone interview from the White House with The Sun newspaper in London, Trump said he is “very sad” to see that the so-called UK-US special relationship is “not what it was”. He had earlier accused Starmer of taking “far too long” to allow the

the use of British airbases by US forces to attack Iran. "He (Starmer) has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK. We love the UK,” said Trump.

Trump's comments comes a day after Starmer was unequivocal in his stance against the UK joining the strikes on Iran, saying his Labour government did not believe in “regime change from the skies”.

“The lessons of history have taught us that when we make decisions such as this, it is important that we establish that there is a lawful basis for what the United Kingdom is doing — that is one of the lessons from Iraq... They are the principles that I applied to the decision not to get involved in the offensive strikes by the US and Israel," he told Parliament on Monday.