‘Not Churchill,’ Trump still slamming Starmer over Iran strike refusal

US President Donald Trump has launched a scathing personal attack on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, comparing him unfavourably to wartime leader Winston Churchill after Britain initially refused to allow US forces to launch strikes against Iran from British military bases.

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump told reporters, marking his third rebuke of Starmer within a 24-hour period, a remarkable streak of public criticism directed at a traditionally close US ally.
The row centers on Britain’s initial refusal to grant Washington access to its military installations for strikes targeting Iranian missile facilities. Although Starmer ultimately agreed to permit the use of Diego Garcia for US operations, Trump remained visibly displeased, saying the delay had been deeply inconvenient.

“It’s taken three or four days to work out where we can land,” Trump said. “It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. We are very surprised.”

In separate interviews with The Sun and The Telegraph, Trump said the US-UK relationship was “obviously not what it was” and that Starmer had taken far too long to greenlight the use of British bases.

Starmer stands firm
Addressing the House of Commons, Starmer issued his most direct pushback yet, stating that Britain did not believe in “regime change from the skies” and questioned the legality of US action in Tehran.

He maintained, however, that the UK would allow Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford to be used for “defensive” purposes, to protect British citizens, armed forces, and allied nations facing retaliatory Iranian strikes following the US-Israeli aggression.

“President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I have done, and I stand by it,” Starmer said.

A YouGov poll underscored the public mood in Britain. Nearly half of Britons, 49%, oppose the US strikes on Iran, against just 28% who back them. On the question of British base access, 50% are against allowing the US to use RAF installations to launch attacks, even where targets are limited to missile sites, while 32% would support it under those conditions.

Allies under pressure
Britain is not alone in facing Washington’s ire. Trump threatened to sever all trade with Spain after Madrid barred US forces from using its bases to conduct Iran strikes, calling the country “terrible” and “very uncooperative.”

Speaking from the Oval Office alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump also referred disparagingly to Diego Garcia as “that stupid island,” underscoring his frustration with European reluctance to unconditionally back Washington’s military campaign against Tehran.

UK Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Emily Thornberry offered a pointed rebuttal, saying she couldn’t help but wonder what Churchill himself would have made of Trump, adding that he was certainly no Franklin D Roosevelt.