Donald Trump says Sir Keir Starmer ‘has not been helpful’ after failing to back his war with Iran and suggested the Special Relationship is in peril.

The US President said it is ‘very sad’ that relations between Britain and the United States are now ‘not like it used to be’. 

Blaming Sir Keir directly, Mr Trump said:  ‘He has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK. We love the UK. It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was.’ 

He even suggested that the Prime Minister’s decision to ‘could be’ because he is pandering to Muslim voters as the Labour leader was accused of ‘pearl-clutching’ over US attacks on Iran that wiped out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mr Trump said that he ‘loves’ the UK and its people but added it is ‘not such a recognisable country’ anymore’.

‘Stop people from coming in from foreign lands who hate you’, he told the PM.

The US President’s criticism of Sir Keir came as the death toll of US service personnel hit six and Americans were urged to leave 15 countries across the Middle East.

Iran has attacked the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with kamikaze attack drones. Iranian state media has claimed that a command and staff building at a US air base in Bahrain has also been destroyed.

President Trump has said America’s military response to the avenge American deaths and damage to its embassy and Bahrain base is imminent, warning the ‘hardest hits’ are coming today.  

Israel has also launched fresh strikes in Tehran and on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of undermining the Special Relationship by not allowing US bombers to launch their assault on Iran from British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia. Access has since been granted, but only for ‘defensive strikes’.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that he was right to delay, telling the Commons: ‘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’.

Asked about claims the Labour leader’s decisions on Iran is because of pandering to Muslim voters, President Trump replied today: ‘It could be’. 

As Iran was bombed for a fourth day, it was also revealed:

Donald Trump has today suggested that Sir Keir Starmer’s decision not to back is war with Iran is because he is pandering to Muslim voters and being swayed by ‘foreigners that hate you’.

The Pentagon vented its fury at Keir Starmer on Monday for his ‘pearl-clutching’ over the US attacks on Iran. The Pm told the Commons yesterday that he stood by his decision

A plume of smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran yesterday

Speaking to The Sun he said that Mr Starmer ‘has got his own difficulties’ in the UK and wished him luck.

‘The people of the UK, who I have a great relationship with, who I love, are sorry to hear it also… I don’t get it. But you know what? I just… I wish him a lot of luck’, he said.

Telling the PM what he needed to do he added: ‘Two very simple things.

‘Open up the North Sea. Immediately. Your energy prices are through the roof.

‘And stop people from coming in from foreign lands who hate you.

‘Open up the North Sea and stop people from pouring into his country from faraway lands.’

He said of the UK generally, Mr Trump said: ‘It’s also not such a recognisable country. I mean, you look at what happened over the last period of time and it’s very different.

‘London is a very different place, with a terrible Mayor. You have a terrible Mayor there, some terrible people.

‘But it’s a very different place.’

Sir Keir Starmer has seriously aggravated the White House by suggesting that the attack, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, was illegal and set to unravel.

In an outspoken intervention, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised Israel for its central role in the offensive – but savaged the legalistic approach taken by Britain and other European allies.

‘Israel has clear missions for which we are grateful,’ he said. ‘Capable partners are good partners. Unlike so many of our traditional partners who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, humming and hawing about the use of force.’

Sir Keir made a partial U-turn on Sunday after Iran lashed out at civilian targets in Gulf states and RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, saying US jets would be able to fly from British bases for the ‘limited’ objective of destroying Iranian missile launchers and stockpiles.

He told MPs on Monday that an estimated 300,000 British nationals in the Gulf region were ‘at risk’ as Tehran targeted hotels and airports. But he ruled out going further, saying he would not participate in US-led attempts to bring about ‘regime change from the skies’.

Donald Trump said the PM took ‘far too long’ to lift the ban on US forces flying from RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, and Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands.

An airstrike on an Iranian police centre also damaged residential buildings around it in Niloofar square in central Tehran on Sunday 

The US President said he was ‘very disappointed in Keir’ over his attempts to hand sovereignty of the strategically vital Diego Garcia to Mauritius.

Sir Keir acknowledged that Mr Trump had ‘expressed his disagreement’, but insisted it was in Britain’s national interest to abide strictly by international law.

He told MPs repeatedly that any military action had to have a ‘lawful basis’ and a ‘viable thought-through plan’ – and suggested the US had neither. Downing Street said the PM’s commitment to upholding international law was ‘iron-clad’.

Kemi Badenoch suggested that the PM was distancing himself from US actions on Iran to avoid further alienating Muslim voters and so-called ‘progressives’ who deserted Labour for the Greens in last week’s by-election. She accused Sir Keir of trying to placate voters ‘whose political loyalties are swayed by conflicts in the Middle East, not the British national interest’.

‘It isn’t international law or principle,’ she said. ‘It’s pure, partisan, political calculations from a party that has surrendered its right to govern our country.’

She added: ‘Why is it that under this Prime Minister, international law always seems to be at odds with our national interest?’ The Tory leader said British people ‘will be wondering why our country’s response has been so weak’.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the PM’s dithering was ‘pathetic’, adding: ‘Our Prime Minister is not a leader, he’s a follower, and he looks weak in the eyes of everybody.’

The PM marched against the Iraq War in 2003 and declared it illegal. He told MPs on Monday he was determined to prevent Britain being dragged into another legally questionable conflict in the Gulf.

‘We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons,’ he said.

‘Any UK actions must always have a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan.

‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to join the initial strikes,’ he said. ‘But it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest, and that is the judgment I made. I stand by it.’

Former Tory security minister Tom Tugendhat, who served in the Iraq war, said there was ‘zero comparison’ with the current situation as there are no plans for a UK ground invasion, although President Trump later said he was prepared to put ‘boots on the ground’.

A legal opinion drawn up the PM’s controversial Attorney-General Lord Hermer ruled that the assault on Iran could not be deemed self-defence despite the regime’s long history of attacks on the West, including targets in the UK.