Wes Streeting attacks Trump’s ‘outrageous’ Iran war rhetoric | US-Israel war on Iran

Wes Streeting criticized Donald Trump’s rhetoric towards Iran as “provocative, provocative and outrageous” and described the failure of US-Iran peace talks as “disappointing”, but said the success of future talks was essential “in all our interests”.

“As always in diplomacy, you fail until you succeed,” the health secretary told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News. “So even though these talks were not successful, that doesn’t mean it’s pointless to keep trying.”

A fragile two-week ceasefire announced on Tuesday was thrown into limbo after 21 hours of talks between Washington and Tehran ended early Sunday without a peace deal. US Vice President JD Vance, who was in Pakistan for talks, said that the reason why the agreement could not be reached was Iran’s rejection of its commitment not to produce nuclear weapons.

Keir Starmer has called on both sides to “find a way out” after peace talks collapsed. The Prime Minister also called for the continuation of the ceasefire following his meeting with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said on Sunday morning.

Streeting said of the talks: “When you look at the impact of the war in Iran on that country and on other countries around the world that have no part in this war, it is in all our interests for a breakthrough to be made and for this war to end.”

He acknowledged that it had been a “difficult few months” for the relationship between the UK and the US. He said the Iran war, disagreements over Greenland and the Chagos Islands, as well as the US president’s unrestrained criticism of Britain’s defense capabilities and personal criticism of the prime minister, had “undoubtedly strained” UK-US relations.

But he added: “On many issues our UK and US interests are intertwined.

“We are old and close friends, and as democratic countries we have a common perspective and common security interests..”

Asked about the rhetoric used by Trump, who last week warned Iran that “an entire civilization will die” if it does not meet his demands, Streeting said many people would go to bed “wondering what will happen overnight.”

He added: “Over the last week, President Trump has said some pretty bold – Yes Minister language – incendiary, provocative, outrageous things on social media. I think we’ve all come to learn that you judge President Trump not just by what he says, but by what he does.”

He added that ministers have learned to distinguish between what the US president says and what he does: “What I mean is that you have to distinguish between some of the rhetoric that people might find shocking and the facts.”

Britain will host new talks next week with a coalition of countries on reopening shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz.

The meeting came after Starmer spoke to Trump about the need for a “practical plan” to enable ships to pass through the region and said he was “fed up” with the impact Trump’s actions in the Middle East were having on British public opinion.

Rachel Reeves said again on Sunday that the war in Iran “will come at a cost for British families and businesses”. He writes in the Sunday Times, chancellor said: “These are not the costs I want, but the costs we must respond to. As chancellor, I have promised that my economic approach to this crisis will be both responsive to a changing world and sensitive to the national interest.”

Streeting praised the prime minister’s “courage and bravery” in refusing to support the first US-Israeli strikes on Iran. “There are very few former British prime ministers alive today who would have made the same decision that Keir did about not joining the war in Iran,” he said.

He described criticism of his move by former Labor prime minister Tony Blair and others as “extraordinary” and added: “I’m glad we’re not joining this war. Imagine how neck-deep we would be in it… When the Prime Minister made that decision he drew criticism from his predecessors. He received criticism from people who would happily take his job at the next general election; Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage, they were all proven completely wrong.”