Starmer stands firm, won’t yield to Trump’s Middle East war pressure

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war, despite threats from US President Donald Trump to scrap a UK trade deal.

“We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told Parliament, adding, “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war.”

In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump warned he could alter a trade agreement with Britain that cushions the impact of US tariffs. However, he said tensions would “not at all” affect King Charles III’s upcoming state visit to the United States.

Responding to the remarks, Starmer emphasized the strength of UK-US ties, saying their “long-standing bonds … are far greater than anyone who occupies any particular office at any particular time.”

The disagreement follows Starmer’s refusal to allow British bases to be used for initial US strikes on Iran last month, a move that reportedly angered Trump. The UK later permitted limited use of two bases for a “specific and defensive purpose.”

“It’s a relationship where when we asked them for help, they were not there,” Trump told Sky News. “When we needed them, they were not there. When we didn’t need them, they were not there. They still aren’t there.”

Starmer’s Labour government, which had sought to rebuild ties with Trump since his return to the White House in January 2025, has recently taken a firmer tone. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves criticized the “folly” of launching a war with Iran “without a clear exit plan.”

Starmer also said earlier this week that Trump was wrong to threaten to destroy Iranian “civilization,” while Health Minister Wes Streeting described the US president’s language as “incendiary, provocative, outrageous.”

Against this backdrop, Reeves was scheduled to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington on Wednesday during an International Monetary Fund meeting to discuss the economic fallout of the conflict.