'You don't have a Royal Navy, your aircraft carriers don't work': Trump attacks UK again over Iran war stance
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US President Donald Trump has taken aim at the Royal Navy once again during criticisms of the UK’s response to the Iran war.
The Republican leader also said he’s considering whether to pull America out of the Nato alliance. This follows insulting remarks he previously made, describing HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth as ‘toys’ while diminishing the actions of British soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.
Mr Trump rebuked prime minister Sir Keir Starmer for refusing to get directly involved in the US-Israeli war against Iran. Extra troops from the RAF have been sent to protect airspace over Gulf nations, with the Portsmouth-based destroyer HMS Dragon continuing operations in the eastern Mediterranean.
The president, who previously said the US did not need the UK’s help with the war against Iran, said the Royal Navy isn’t ready to reopen the Strait of Hormuz - a strategic waterway vital to the flow of oil and other products which is blockaded by Iran.
“You don’t even have a navy,” Mr Trump said. “You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”
Asked if the prime minister should spend more on defence, he added: “I’m not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter. All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof.”
Trump calls Nato ‘paper tiger’ as Starmer responds
The conflict in Iran began after a US-Israeli coalition battered the country with airstrikes on February 28. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei was killed, later replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Retaliatory strikes from Tehran have targeted infrastructure sites belonging to Gulf states - including oil refineries - allied military establishments, and civilian buildings. The US has consistently changed its aims for the war, ranging from regime change to eradicating Iran’s military capability. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have started attacking Israeli positions in an escalatory move.
After Trump previously claiming Iran’s military capabilities were decimated, Tehran was able to blockade the Strait of Hormuz - causing prices of energy and essentials in Britain and across the world to skyrocket. The UK currently allows US forces to use British bases for defensive actions related to the war, a policy not originally granted due to the legalities of the conflict.
RAF pilots are consistently patrolling Middle Eastern airspace to shoot down drones and missiles. RFA Lyme Bay has been modified to be a mine-hunting “mothership”, but has not yet been deployed to the Strait of Hormuz. HMS Dragon’s operations around Cyprus appear to be defensive in nature.
After begging allies to combine to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Mr Trump said he’s considering whether America should be a part of Nato at all. “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
Sir Keir has promised the UK will not be dragged into the conflict in the Middle East. Speaking at a press conference, he said: “I know that this is causing huge concern. People turn on their televisions, they look at their screens, they see explosions, infrastructure blown up, aggressive rhetoric. They worry that the UK will be dragged into this. We won’t.”
The prime minister said he will continue to act in the national interest. “Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, and it has kept us safe for many decades, and we are fully committed to Nato,” he added.
“Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I’m going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make. That’s why I’ve been absolutely clear that this is not our war and we’re not going to get dragged into it.
“But I’m equally clear that, when it comes to defence and security and our economic future, we have to have closer ties with Europe. That’s why we had the summit last year. This year, as I’ve just announced, there’ll be a further summit. There, we will make good on equipment that we put in place last year, but we will also go further in relation to the alignment.”
Past slights
Mr Trump has taken aim at the British armed forces on multiple occasions. He dismissed the power of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, despite USS Gerald R Ford - the world’s largest aircraft carrier - currently being stuck alongside Crete due to a fire in the laundry room which damaged much of the ship.
In January, the US president was widely criticised for derogatory comments about British soldiers during the war in Afghanistan, which he later backtracked. There were 457 fatalities of British Forces personnel between 2001 and 2021.
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."