Trump warns Nato allies over Iran response as Starmer pledges heating oil help

Sir Keir Starmer will promise help with the cost of living in response to the Iran crisis as Donald Trump warned the future of Nato is at stake unless allies including the UK offer military aid in the Middle East.

The Prime Minister will offer support for households who use heating oil to warm their homes, after they faced price spikes caused by the war.

Sir Keir appears set to refuse Mr Trump’s demand for Royal Navy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas route being blockaded by Tehran’s forces in response to the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.

The UK could potentially send mine-hunting drones to the region rather than a warship.

Mr Trump said Nato faces a “very bad” future should its member states fail to help, adding: “We’ll see if they help us. Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us.”

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Trump reiterated his call for allied assistance in the Strait of Hormuz, telling the paper: “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there.”

He has previously called for the  UK, China, France, Japan and South Korea to send ships to secure the route.

Mr Trump again hit out at Sir Keir’s refusal to allow US forces to use UK bases in the initial wave of attacks against Iran.

“The UK might be considered the number one ally, the longest serving et cetera and when I asked for them to come, they didn’t want to come,” he told the Financial Times.

“And as soon as we basically wiped out the danger capacity from Iran, they said, ‘oh well we’ll send two ships’, and I said, ‘we need these ships before we win, not after we win’. I’ve long said that Nato is a one-way street.”

An ally of Sir Keir played down the US president’s warning about Nato’s future, saying there was always a lot of rhetoric from the White House.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Sky News: “It’s a very transactional presidency and our job is to navigate this, to always remember that the friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom runs very deep.

“It’s a good relationship. It’s enduring and I think it will outlast all the personalities involved.”

The Prime Minister’s heating oil announcement will amount to £50 million of support for the most vulnerable households, the Financial Times reported.

The cost of heating oil, which is used by around 1.5 million homes, has doubled since the crisis began.

Inside Downing Street, Sir Keir will say: “It’s moments like this that tell you what a Government is about.

“My answer is clear. Whatever challenges lie ahead, this Government will always support working people.

“That is my first instinct – my first priority – to help you with the cost of living through this crisis.”

The Prime Minister will also raise concerns about claims that suppliers of heating oil have cancelled orders and then jacked up prices.

Sir Keir will say: “I will not tolerate companies trying to exploit this crisis to make money from working people… if the companies have broken the law, there will be legal action.”

De-escalation of the war is the quickest way to reduce cost-of-living pressures for the British public, the Prime Minister will insist.

The Prime Minister will also seek to use the crisis to criticise his domestic political rivals Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage over their approach, defending his decision not to allow Mr Trump to use British bases for the initial onslaught against Iran.

The Prime Minister is expected to say: “There are others who would have made a different decision two weeks ago.

“They would have rushed the UK headlong into this war without the full picture of what they were sending our forces into and without a plan to get us out.”

Sir Keir on Sunday spoke to Mr Trump for the first time since the US president called for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

The pair “discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Elsewhere, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has mobilised more than £5 million in aid for humanitarian organisations in Lebanon amid a war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.

She said she was “gravely concerned about the developing conflict in Lebanon and the scale of the humanitarian impact”.

A drone‑related incident sparked a fire near Dubai International Airport on Monday, forcing a temporary suspension of flights.