𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Donald Trump has seemingly taken another brutal dig at Sir Keir Starmer as tensions over persistent US strikes on Iran threaten to boil over. Sir Keir Starmer revealed on Sunday that the US would be allowed to use British bases for “limited” and “defensive” operations.

But the White House has since made clear the US expects full backing from its European allies as the conflict intensifies. The US President had previously said Sir Keir’s decision had taken “far too long”. On Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said: “I think [Spain] heard the president’s message yesterday, loud and clear, and it’s my understanding, over the past several hours, they’ve agreed to co-operate with the US military. She added to reporters: “The US military is co-ordinating with their counterparts in Spain. But the president expects all Europe, all of our European allies, of course, to co-operate in this long sought-after mission … to crush the rogue Iranian regime.”

Donald Trump said Keir Starmer was “no Winston Churchill” after the UK initially refused to allow US-Israel strikes on Iran to launch from British bases.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he was “not happy with the UK”, saying the refusal forced US aircraft to fly “many extra hours”.

He branded the delay “shocking” adding: “That island that you write about, the lease….for whatever reason, he made a lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it’s taken three or four days for us to work out where we can land.”

The remark highlighted growing tensions between Washington and London over the conflict with Iran.

The US had wanted to use the base at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands , but the Prime Minister declined before later agreeing to limited “defensive” use of UK facilities.

In terms of Spain, Madrid had initially refused to allow the use of its joint bases with the US over fears the move could violate international law, but now appears to have bowed to mounting pressure from Washington.

Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr Trump threatened to “cut off all dealings” with Spain, claiming the country’s behaviour had been “terrible”.

Spain’s stance on the war in the Middle East and the use of US military bases in the country “has not changed”, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said today, adding he had no idea what Leavitt was referring to.

He said: “Our position of ‘no to war’ remains clear and unequivocal … there is an agreement, a bilateral accord, and outside the framework of that bilateral agreement, there will be no use of Spanish sovereign bases. Any operation must be within the framework of the United Nations.”

According to a Reuters translation, Albares told radio station Cadena Ser: “I categorically deny it. The Spanish government’s position on the war in the Middle East… and the use of our bases has not changed at all.”

In a televised address on Wednesday morning, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reiterated his opposition to war in the Middle East.

He added that the country’s position is “the same as in Ukraine and Gaza,” Sanchez and urged countries not to repeat the mistakes of the past.