UK rejects pressure to join Iran conflict despite Trump tariffs threat

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) speaks next to US President Donald Trump (L) at the start of a business event at Chequers in Aylesbury, central England, on September 18, 2025, on the second day of the US president’s second state visit. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war.

It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield.

It is not in our national interest to join this war,” the Labour leader added. In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain that limits the impact of his US tariffs blitz. Trump, who has repeatedly slammed Starmer’s policies, said strains in the relationship with the NATO ally would “not at all” negatively affect King Charles III’s state visit to the United States this month.

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In reference to the royal trip,Starmertold parliament that the two nations’ “long standing bonds… are far greater than anyone who occupies any particular office at any particular time”. London and Washington concluded a trade agreement last year capping US tariffs at 10 percent on most British manufactured goods. In return, the UK agreed to open its markets further to American ethanol and beef, sparking concerns in the country.

At the time, it was an advantageous agreement for London, which benefited from the lowest tariffs granted by the US. This advantage has, however, been weakened since theUS Supreme Court struck down some tariffs and Washington retaliated by imposing a temporary 10-percent tariff on almost all of its imports pending a new tariff regime by July. While Trump praised his good relationship with Starmer at the time of the agreement, ties have since deteriorated, particularly over the war in the Middle East.

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