US President Donald Trump has suggested the war in the Middle East has already been won as he continued his criticism of the UK government.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said the UK was finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, but continued: “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won!”
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said it was increasing the preparedness of HMS Prince of Wales and reducing the time it would take to deploy.
Mr Trump has made clear his disapproval of Mr Starmer's decision to initially refuse US access to UK air bases to carry out strikes on Iran with a series of comments, including that the prime minister "was no Winston Churchill".
Mr Trump attended a service at Dover Air Force base in Delaware on Saturday, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, vice president JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, to receive the bodies of six US Army service members who were killed in Kuwait.
In a separate post, the US president said Iran had “apologised and surrendered to its Middle East neighbours” because of the “relentless US and Israeli attack”.
He also suggested fresh escalation in the week-long war.
He said: “Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behaviour, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”
The US has started using British bases for “specific defensive operations” after American bombers landed at a Gloucestershire base.
A first 146ft B-1 Lancer arrived at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Friday evening and three more followed on Saturday morning .
The MoD said the US was using the bases for “specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region” and putting British lives at risk.
A Merlin helicopter is also being sent to the region to help with surveillance from the air and RAF Typhoon and F-35 jets are continuing air operations over Jordan, Qatar and Cyprus.
Mr Starmer had granted permission for “defensive” US action against Iranian missile sites from UK bases.
The prime minister this week defended his government against accusations it has responded too slowly to the crisis in the Middle East by announcing more jets would be sent to the region.
The UK had been preparing for the possibility of conflict for the past eight weeks, with weapons and additional military personnel sent to the Middle East in January, Mr Starmer said on Thursday.
