Continuing his address, US President Donald Trump has taken jabs at the United Kingdom and its Prime Minister Keir Starmer over their hesitation to deploy Royal Navy aircraft carriers to the Middle East.

“The United Kingdom, two weeks ago, I said, ‘Why don’t you send some ships over?” and they really didn’t want to do it,” Trump said. “We’ve been with you, you’re our oldest ally, and we spend a lot of money to protect you … and then they tell us that we have a mine ship around and they don’t want to do it.

“I think it’s terrible, I was very surprised,” Trump added, stating that Washington had requested two British aircraft carriers for support in the region.

“I don’t need them after the war has ended,” the US president has said about London’s hesitation to deploy the vessels. “So I was … not happy with the UK. I think they’ll be involved, but they should be involved enthusiastically. We’ve been protecting these countries for years with Nato. Nato is us.”