Starmer responds to Trump’s threat: I will not yield… and Iran is not our war

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Wednesday that he would not “cave in” to pressure to join the war on Iran, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cancel a trade agreement with the United Kingdom.
Starmer told Parliament: “We will not be dragged into this war. It was not our war.”
He added: “I will not change my mind, I will not submit, it is not in our national interest to join this war.” Trump had threatened in a phone interview with Sky News to cancel an agreement concluded with Britain that limits the impact of the US customs tariffs he imposed.
Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Starmer’s policies, said that the tensions in the relationship with the NATO member state “will not affect at all” the official visit by King Charles III to the United States this month.
Referring to the visit, Starmer told Parliament: “The long-term ties between the two countries are much greater than any one person holding any particular position at any given time.”
Washington and London reached a trade agreement last year, setting US tariffs at 10% on most British manufactured goods.
In return, the United Kingdom agreed to open its markets further to ethanol and American beef, which raised concerns in the country.
Starmer displeased Trump when he refused to allow the use of British bases to carry out the first American strikes on Iran in late February, and he later agreed to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose.”
On Monday, Starmer said before Parliament: Trump was wrong in threatening to destroy Iranian “civilization,” while Health Minister Wes Streeting on Sunday criticized Trump’s tone, describing it as “inflammatory, provocative and disgraceful.”