'They're toys': Arrogant Donald Trump insults Royal Navy carriers HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth
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US President Donald Trump has insulted the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Calculated remarks were aimed at the UK’s reaction to the war in Iran during a White House Cabinet meeting on Thursday (March 26). Mr Trump lashed out at Nato for doing “absolutely nothing” to help the US in the Middle East conflict, after previously stating he did not need Britain’s help with Iran and dismissing the role of the country’s personnel during the war in Afghanistan.
“Now they all want to help,” he said. “When they’re annihilated, the other side is annihilated, they said ‘we’d love to send ships’. Actually made a statement, a couple of them, that ‘we want to get involved when the war is over’. No, it’s supposed to get involved with the war’s beginning, or even before it begins.
“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'”.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has remained steadfast in keeping the UK’s involvement in the Iran war to a minimum. British forces did not jump in to assist with US-Israeli strikes on Tehran which started on February 28, and was criticised for this decision by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
Currently, American forces are allowed to use British bases for defensive manoeuvres related to the Middle East conflict. British forces work alongside their US counterparts at shore establishments such as Erbil in western Iraq, with personnel shooting down 14 drones targeting the location in one night earlier this week.
It hasn’t been plain sailing for US ships in the region. The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, is currently alongside Crete in maintenance after a fire broke out on board earlier this month - setting alight in the main laundry area. The incident was not related to combat and was “contained” by crew members. The Guardian reported that sailors sustained injuries and approximately 100 beds were destroyed.
Measures to secure a ceasefire in iran seem to be faltering as of March 26. Iran is tightening its grip around the Strait of Hormuz, with a de facto ‘toll booth’ regime” being implemented. Some ships paying n Chinese yuan to pass through the strait, where 20 per cent of all traded oil and natural gas is transported in peacetime.
A strike group anchored by the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli drew closer to the Middle East with some 2,500 Marines. At least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne have been ordered to the region. The troop movements do not guarantee US President Donald Trump will try to use force to compel Iran to open the strait and halt its attacks on Gulf Arab states, but similar actions have been undertaken before the American military captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January.
That same month, Mr Trump was widely criticised for his remarks about British soldiers, which he later backtracked. During an interview with Fox News, he said: “We've never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines."