On the 3rd (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump took aim at U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with whom he showed differences over the ‘Iran strikes’, saying, “He is not Winston Churchill.” While sharply criticizing the United Kingdom and Spain, Trump praised Germany. As the United States, together with Israel, is waging a war against Iran, this is seen as making explicit an effort to ‘line up’ European allies.

Trump made the remarks at the White House in Washington, DC, during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as he assessed European allies’ stances regarding the Iran strikes.

Regarding the United Kingdom, Trump said he was “not satisfied,” pointing out that London initially refused to allow the use of its air bases for U.S. strikes on Iran before reversing its position.

He added, “We are very surprised. We are not dealing with Winston Churchill.” Churchill, the former prime minister who led the Allied forces to victory in World War II alongside the United States, was invoked to signal dissatisfaction with Starmer.

Previously, a U.S. White House plan for military operations against Iran included the joint U.S.-U.K. Diego Garcia base and the Fairford air base in Gloucestershire, but the United Kingdom declined to allow their use, citing violations of international law. Starmer then said on the 1st that he would permit use of the Diego Garcia base solely for ‘specific and limited defensive purposes’.

Trump continued, “Some European countries, for example Spain, were terrible,” referring to his demand that NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) members raise defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), and he asserted that “Spain is the only country that did not do so.”

He went on, “In Spain, the people are excellent, but the leadership is not,” adding, “We will halt all trade with Spain. We do not want to do anything with Spain.” He continued, “Tomorrow, or even today, we could stop all business related to Spain. Whether a blockade or whatever, we can do it,” again insisting that “Spain must increase its (defense) burden.”

By contrast, Trump said, “Germany was excellent. He (Chancellor Merz) was really great. Other countries (in Europe) were very good as well,” and added, “Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, is fantastic.”

Since returning to power, Trump has repeatedly clashed with European and NATO allies. Early this year, after revealing ambitions to annex Greenland, a Danish territory, he announcedand then withdrewplans to impose a 10% ‘retaliatory tariff’ on eight countries that had dispatched troops to Greenland: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland.

As for the United Kingdom, Trump also faced a public backlash after claiming that there had been almost no British sacrifices in the war in Afghanistan.