Sir Keir Starmer has defended US President Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East as he called for Iran and Israel to “get back to” a fragile ceasefire brokered overnight. The Prime Minister said the US had helped in “alleviating” the threat of nuclear capability for Tehran following American strikes on suspected enrichment facilities in the country.
Ministers have been at pains to stress Britain was not involved in the attacks, but Sir Keir on Tuesday gave his backing to Washington’s course of action as he prepared to meet the US president at a major summit of Nato allies. Asked on his visit to The Hague whether he personally felt safe with Mr Trump in the White House and why others should, the Prime Minister told Channel 5 News: “Look, I think what we’ve seen over the last few days is the Americans alleviating a threat to nuclear weaponry by the Iranians and bringing about a ceasefire in the early hours of today.
“I think now what needs to happen is that ceasefire needs to be maintained, and that will be the focus of our attention, our engagement, our discussions, because that ceasefire provides the space for the negotiations that need to take place. It will have to be negotiations … to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon capability and that is very important for safety and security, not just in the region, but more widely.”
The two warring nations had signed up to a ceasefire deal proposed by the US president before Israel claimed Iran had violated the deal by carrying out missile strikes after it came into force. Iran’s military chiefs denied this, but faced a fresh onslaught ordered by the Israeli defence minister Israel Katz.
Mr Trump called for Israel to withdraw its warplanes, and claimed both it and Iran “don’t know what the f*** they’re doing” as he departed for the Nato summit in the Netherlands. As he arrived for the meeting of military allies, Sir Keir meanwhile called for the ceasefire to be respected.
He told reporters: “I want the ceasefire to continue, and therefore, obviously, the sooner we get back to that the better, and that’s the message that I’m discussing with other leaders today. We’ve got a ceasefire. We need to get back to that ceasefire, which is consistent with what I’ve been saying about de-escalation for quite some time now.”
Downing Street said the UK was prioritising getting Iran back to talks to agree a lasting settlement. “Our priority now is a diplomatic solution, which is why the Prime Minister has urged Iran to come back to the negotiating table in pursuit of a lasting settlement,” a No 10 spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump reportedly told journalists that “it depends on your definition” of Nato’s Article Five when asked if he supports the provision, which states that an attack against one member of the alliance is considered an attack against all.
“There’s numerous definitions of Article Five. You know that, right?” he told reporters on board Air Force One. A second evacuation flight taking Britons out of Israel left Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
The Foreign Office confirmed its departure and said it would consider arranging further flights depending on demand. Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer earlier told MPs: “We are providing support and advice to more than 1,000 British nationals as they seek to leave the region by land and air.
“We have deployed teams to Israel, Cyprus, Egypt and Jordan.” The British embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran, has temporarily withdrawn its staff amid the ongoing crisis, Mr Falconer also told MPs.
The embassy is however still operating remotely and “continues to provide support for British nationals in Iran”, he said. Both Iran and Israel had agreed to the ceasefire in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after Mr Trump announced they would both sign up to the plan.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his country would “respond forcefully” if any violation of the agreement was discovered. Accusations of one soon followed, with the Israeli military claiming Iran fired off missiles several hours after the deal came into force.
Israel then responded by ordering further strikes against Iran. “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media site he owns.
The US president appeared angry that his peace proposal had not held as he spoke with reporters outside the White House ahead of his departure for the Netherlands. “They violated it but Israel violated it too,” the US president said, adding: “I’m not happy with Israel.”
He also said: “You basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they are doing, do you understand that?” In a post on Truth Social later in the day, Mr Trump said: “Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!”
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