Donald Trump has launched a fresh broadside at the UK, expressing his “really disappointed” reaction to Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to send Royal Navy ships to the Strait of Hormuz while the US-led war with Iran was still underway. The US president told reporters at the G7 summit in Evian, France, that he had made a modest request to the Prime Minister—“I said ‘it’d be nice if you sent some ships’”—only to be told by Starmer that UK vessels “will be there, sir, as soon as the war is over”. Trump said he replied: “Did you say that? I couldn’t believe it, actually.”
The president also criticised Japan for its unwillingness to join the conflict, noting that “nobody did, we did it ourselves with Israel and with the Arab states that got hit, surprisingly”. Despite his disappointment, Trump downplayed the need for allied help, insisting: “We don’t need it.” He added that other nations now want to participate in reopening the waterway, “but not while the war was going on”.
UK response: a defensive mission after the guns fall silent
Downing Street has stood by its position that Britain will not be drawn into a wider war. Instead, the UK, together with France, is leading a European-led naval force intended to secure the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities have ended. According to UK officials, the proposed mission will include autonomous mine-hunting equipment, minesweepers, frigates and air-defence destroyers, with the goal of de-mining the strait, protecting commercial shipping and ensuring freedom of navigation. Germany, Italy and Denmark have also offered support. The G7 leaders, in a joint statement issued at the summit in France, welcomed Mr Trump’s “breakthrough” agreement with Tehran and stressed that “the right of transit without restrictions was the bedrock of international trade”. They specifically backed the UK-French-led effort.
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the interim peace deal as a “hugely important step forward” but underlined the need for the Strait of Hormuz to remain “fully and permanently open”. Along with other G7 leaders, he called for a “robust and comprehensive” follow-up accord “that can bring peace and security for all in the region”, and stressed that further negotiation is required to ensure Iran can “never obtain a nuclear weapon”.
The interim peace deal: what it does and what it doesn’t do
The interim agreement, which ends the nearly four-month war that began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28, is formally a memorandum of understanding (MOU) digitally signed on June 14 by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. An in-person signing ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 19, in Switzerland, with Trump not ruling out attending. Iran has suggested the deal could be signed by Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian—a meeting that would mark a major step for two countries that broke off diplomatic relations in 1980 over the US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran. The full text of the MOU is expected to be made public soon after the signing.
The most critical provision, ending Tehran’s stranglehold on the strategic waterway, only guarantees toll-free passage through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days. The agreement does not rule out future fees being levied, and Iran has indicated it will charge ships crossing the strait after that period. The deal aims to restore maritime traffic to pre-war levels within 30 days, though it acknowledges that Iranian mines may still be present and require destruction. The disruption of the waterway—through which roughly 20% of global oil supply passes—had driven up global fuel and food prices; Brent crude hit over $120 per barrel at its peak. Even with the reopening, a return to pre-crisis normality is expected to take months.
In return for ceasing hostilities and reopening the strait, the US will waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran once the deal takes effect. The agreement also offers the prospect of providing at least $300 billion (£223 billion) to Iran to rebuild after the war, though Trump has stated the US is “not putting up 10 cents” for the fund. It is understood that the reconstruction money would be subject to a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, and the question of how it would be bankrolled remains unclear—Gulf nations are likely to be reluctant after Iranian attacks.
The interim deal opens a 60-day window for negotiations focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, a central issue of the conflict. It includes provisions designed to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, with Vance saying: “We can say with confidence Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.” Under the deal, Iran has undertaken not to build nuclear weapons and has agreed to an on-site “down-blending” of its stockpile of enriched uranium—a new “minimum” standard for diluting highly enriched Iranian uranium. The accord also contains provisions to ensure the “territorial integrity” of Lebanon after Israel’s latest attacks against Hezbollah militants in the country.
Much of the agreement restores the status quo before the war: ending hostilities, reopening the strait, and restarting negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme. The move to allow Iran to sell its oil immediately, and the offer to eventually lift all sanctions, represent major concessions that go beyond the terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—from which Trump unilaterally withdrew the US in his first term, branding it the “worst deal ever”. Critics of the JCPOA had argued it did not adequately address Iran’s ballistic missile programme or regional influence.
While claiming the deal was “very strong”, Trump left the door open to ditching it, saying: “It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs.” He also acknowledged the financial damage caused by the conflict, which he had previously downplayed, admitting: “The one thing I didn’t want to see is I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened.” The accord is likely to face opposition in Washington and appears to be a major setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the military offensive with Trump on February 28.
Three Indian sailors were killed in a US strike on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman shortly before the G7 summit. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held talks with Trump in Evian, raised the issue with the president, who acknowledged it as a “tough profession”.
