Donald Trump said he is considering pulling the US out of Nato, as he again likened the alliance to a “paper tiger”.
“Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration,” he said in an interview with the Telegraph.
“I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
The US president has been levelling insults at allies in recent weeks for not helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively shut down by Iran as the Middle East war rages on.
“Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic,” Trump said.
He added that the US has been there for countries that needed its support, including Ukraine, even though it “wasn’t our problem”.
Taking aim at the UK, he said: “You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”
Donald Trump said he will wrap up his military campaign against Iran in two to three weeks and that a deal is not necessary to end the conflict.
“We will be leaving very soon,” he told reporters in the Oval Office last night.
The White House said the US president will provide “an important update” during a national address this evening at 9pm Washington time (2am BST). While it is unclear what updates he will provide on the war, questions remain over whether the US has achieved its shifting objectives since launching a joint attack with Israel against Iran more than four weeks ago.
Trump said on Monday that he has already achieved regime change by killing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even though he has been replaced by his son, Motjaba. Other key Iranian officials have been killed since the outbreak of the war, but critics say a change in Iran’s leadership does not constitute a regime change.
“What we are seeing in Iran is not a regime change — but a transformation within the regime itself, one that has made it more extreme,” Danny Citrinowicz, the Israeli military’s former top Iran researcher, posted on X.
Keir Starmer said he will push for a closer relationship with the EU at a summit coming up later this year.
“We want to be more ambitious, closer economic cooperation, closer security cooperation, a partnership that recognises our shared values, our shared interest and our shared future,” he said in a press conference in Downing Street.
When asked by a reporter whether a closer relationship with the EU is an acknowledgment that the relationship with the US is changing, Starmer responded:
Firstly, 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.
Secondly, that, 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.
And 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.
His remarks followed a Telegraph interview with Donald Trump, in which the US president said he was considering pulling the US out of Nato, and suggested the UK does not have a proper navy.
Trump’s latest comments come as he increasingly hardens his language against European allies, blaming them for difficulties in his Iran operation.
In last days, he specifically targeted European allies, calling them “cowards” and telling them to “build up some delayed courage” and take control over the strait of Hormuz.
He and his senior officials also criticised a number of specific countries, particularly Spain, which has been most vocally critical of the US-Israeli war against Iran, and France.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned last night about the sharply escalating frustration with Nato, as he told Fox News: “We are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose or has now become a one-way street, where America is simply in a position to help Europe but when we need the help of our allies, they deny us basing rights and overflight.”
Italy is the latest country to risk the US administration’s anger, after it has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure.
For more on the impact of the war in Europe, follow our Europe live blog here:
Keir Starmer is giving an update on the Iran war at a press conference in Downing Street, where he sought to reassure the British public that the government is working on a plan to help with the cost of living.
“We will continue to stand up for the British national interest, and we continue to do what we must to guide our country calmly through this storm,” he said.
You can follow the live updates on our UK politics blog here:
The Telegraph interview follows remarks by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, that the US may need to reconsider its relationship with Nato once the war against Iran is over.
“We’re going to have to reexamine the value of Nato and that alliance for our country,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News last night.
“If Nato is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked, but them denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement. That’s a hard one to stay engaged in.”
Trump said he was “glad” Rubio made the comments.
When asked by the Telegraph whether Keir Starmer should spend more on defence, Trump said: “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.”
Donald Trump said he is considering pulling the US out of Nato, as he again likened the alliance to a “paper tiger”.
“Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration,” he said in an interview with the Telegraph.
“I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
The US president has been levelling insults at allies in recent weeks for not helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively shut down by Iran as the Middle East war rages on.
“Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic,” Trump said.
He added that the US has been there for countries that needed its support, including Ukraine, even though it “wasn’t our problem”.
Taking aim at the UK, he said: “You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”
Governments across Asia are ramping up their use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, as they try to cover huge energy shortfalls triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran.
The move has triggered warnings from climate experts who point to coal’s devastating environmental impact, and say the energy crisis should be a wake up call for governments to invest in renewables, which can offer a more stable supply that is not exposed to price shocks.
Across the region, from Bangladesh to South Korea, governments are trying to compensate for a drop off in imported energy, much of which comes from the Middle East.
South Korea said it will delay the shutdown of coal-fired power plants and has lifted caps on electricity from coal, while in Thailand, the government has increased output at the country’s largest coal-fired plant. The Philippines, which has declared a “national energy emergency” as a result of the war, also plans to boost operations of its coal-fired power plants.
In South Asia, India, which relies on coal for nearly 75% of its power generation, has asked its coal plants to run at maximum capacity and avoid planned outages, while Bangladesh increased coal-fired power generation and coal-fired power imports in March.
Read the full report here:
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has warned the months ahead “may not be easy” because of the oil crisis caused by the Middle East war.
“The months ahead may not be easy. I want to be upfront about that. No government can promise to eliminate the pressures that this war is causing,” he said in a rare national address.
“I can promise we will do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it.”
He urged Australians not to panic buy fuel and to trade cars for public transport where possible.
“If you’re hitting the road, don’t take more fuel than you need — just fill up like you normally would. Think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries,” he said.
The National Bank of Kuwait said it is closing its headquarters for two days as the Gulf nation continues to face Iranian attacks.
The bank’s headquarters in the capital Kuwait City and a branch in Subhan, which is close to the airport, were closed “due to current developments and in the interest of everyone’s safety and business continuity”, it said in a statement.
It follows reports of an Iranian drone attack at Kuwait airport which struck fuel tanks at the site, triggering a large fire.
The Israeli military said a strike in central Iran killed what it described as a senior engineering officer of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Mahdi Vafaei, chief of engineering in the IRGC Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, was killed in the strike yesterday in Mahallat.
The IDF claimed Vafaei “advanced underground projects across Lebanon and Syria” for two decades, including “dozens of underground projects in Lebanon that were used to store advanced weaponry”.
There was no immediate comment from Iran.
An 11-year-old girl is in critical condition and a 13-year-old boy was seriously injured after a missile attack in Bnei Brak in central Israel this morning, according to Israeli media.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said 14 people have been wounded in the attack.
Qatar’s defence ministry has also confirmed the missile attack on the oil tanker, saying the 21 crew members were evacuated from the vessel with no injuries.
In a statement this morning, the ministry said Qatar was targeted by three cruise missiles from Iran. The Qatari armed forces intercepted two missiles, while the third struck an oil tanker leased to QatarEnergy.
“Procedures were taken and coordination with the relevant authorities to evacuate the oil tanker, which has a crew of (21) persons, without any human casualties,” the ministry said in a post on X.
QatarEnergy, the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), confirmed one of its tankers was hit in a missile strike this morning.
“None of the crew members on board were injured, and there is no impact on the environment as a result of this incident,” the state-owned company said in a statement.
As reported earlier, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit by two projectiles, one causing a fire that has since been extinguished and another remaining unexploded in the vessel’s engine room.
The vessel was struck about 17 nautical miles (31 km) north of Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial hub.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
