Starmer confident Trump will back Aukus pact after US launches review
Speaking to reporters ahead of the G7 summit in Canada, the Prime Minister said he did not have 'any doubt' that the agreement would progress.
The trilateral Aukus partnership, believed to be aimed at countering China, involves building a new fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines and co-operating in other areas of defence.
Australia would also get its first subs from the US under the deal.
Asked what his message to the US president would be on the importance of the pact, Sir Keir, who is due to meet Mr Trump in Kananaskis next week, said: 'Aukus is really important. We're fully committed to it.'
Sir Keir added it was 'not unusual for an incoming government to do a review of a project like that', and that Labour had done similar.
'We, of course, looked into the issue when we came into government.. But I'm 100% committed to it. I'm really clear about that.'
Asked if he was confident Mr Trump would back it, he said: 'Yeah, I think so. It's a really important project. So I don't have any doubt that this will progress.'
Confirming the review on Thursday, the White House said it wanted to make sure the pact was 'aligned with the president's America First agenda.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
9 minutes ago
- Sky News
Israel-Iran live: Eight killed in Israel as Iron Dome breached; Iran threatens to leave key nuclear treaty
Iran and Israel have exchanged attacks for a fourth night, with Iranian rockets killing at least eight in central Israel and explosions reported in Tehran. Iran's intelligence chief has been reported dead. Follow the latest here and listen to Trump 100 as you scroll.
Spectator
16 minutes ago
- Spectator
Will Trump respond to Iran damaging the US embassy?
The US embassy in Tel Aviv has been damaged by an Iranian ballistic missile attack which landed close by, raising the prospect of President Trump retaliating against Tehran. The overnight incident, during a barrage of Iranian missiles fired at Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa, came after Trump warned the US would attack Iran with its 'full force' if any American assets were targeted. The prospect of a military response to the overnight damage to the American embassy building is possible but unlikely It seemed the building was not directly targeted but the blast from the missiles caused minor damage at the branch office building. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, confirmed the damage overnight but said no one had been hurt. 'Some minor damage from concussions of Iranian missile hits near the embassy branch in Tel Aviv but no injuries to US personnel,' he said in a post on X. He said the embassy in Jerusalem and the offices in Tel Aviv would remain closed. In his warning to Tehran, Trump had said: 'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.' Since Israel's attacks on Iran's nuclear plants and air defence systems, codenamed Operation Rising Lion, began on 13 June, Trump has made it clear that the US is not involved, although a report by Reuters claimed that the American president had vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 'Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership,' a senior US official told Reuters. Washington's hesitation to participate in the latest round of Israeli raids on Iran suggests that minor, indirect damage to the embassy building in Tel Aviv will not provoke Trump into retaliating against Tehran. Yet it could persuade the US president to mount a full-scale defence of Israel, using warships in the Red Sea and Mediterranean and Patriot missile batteries located in the Middle East to help Israel shoot down the ballistic missiles and drones targeting Israeli cities. Israel's Iron Dome and Arrow 2 and 3 anti-missile systems have successfully shot down a large percentage of Iran's missiles and drones. However, dozens have breached the missile shield, leading to multiple casualties. When the tit-for-tat missile strikes erupted between Israel and Iran in April, the US, Britain, France and Jordan stepped in to support Israel with anti-missile defences. This time, it has not been made clear how much support has been provided. US European Command moved two destroyers with anti-missile systems to the Eastern Mediterranean last week which may already have played a role in intercepting Iranian missiles. The UK also sent additional fighter jets and air refuelling tankers to the Middle East. Trump's response to the damage caused to the US embassy building in Tel Aviv is likely to be measured by the desire not to escalate an already dangerous confrontation between Israel and Iran. During his first term in office in June 2019, he approved plans to strike Iran after the Iranians shot down a long-range US Air Force Global Hawk surveillance drone. Bombers were on their way to hit selected targets when the president changed his mind and the raid was called off. Later, Trump explained that no Americans had been hurt and retaliatory strikes which could have led to Iranian deaths, were, therefore, disproportionate. Now, in his second term, and following his warning to Iran, the prospect of a military response to the overnight damage to the American embassy is possible but unlikely. The calm statement from Ambassador Mike Huckabee suggests the response will be more cautious.
Times
19 minutes ago
- Times
The West should tighten the screws on Iran
Smoke billows from central Tehran on a third day of exchanging missile fire with Israel ATTA KENARE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES I ran's extremist, repressive and paranoid regime faces its greatest challenge since the overthrow of the Shah almost half a century ago. Israel has already inflicted devastating blows on Iran's desperate attempts to manufacture nuclear weapons. With precision targeting, comprehensive intelligence and a humiliating ability to use military facilities clandestinely set up inside the country, Israel has destroyed Iran's malign intention to string along international efforts to limit its nuclear research — to deceive not only President Trump and atomic weapons inspectors but all those urging a negotiated deal. Iran came within weeks of success: Israel will now continue its attacks until not only the underground bunkers are destroyed but so too are the morale and credibility of the Islamists holding Iran in thrall. It is the Iranian people who have suffered: not only from the inevitable casualties of war but from years of repression, mismanagement, penury and state-sponsored misogyny. But hopes of promoting regime change may be misplaced. Military attacks tend to rally people around the authorities, however despised. Nevertheless, Ayatollah Khamenei's defiance may be as hollow as it is blind. He has miscalculated badly. He had a last chance to save lives and face with Mr Trump's proposal for a new deal. But his sole aim is to preserve his power and the rule of Islamism. He knew any concession limiting his chance to make a bomb would wreck Iran's fast-fading power and influence and endanger the Islamists' domestic stranglehold. Already, the outposts are gone: Hezbollah and Hamas have been decapitated, the Assad regime has fled Syria and the Houthis are almost a spent force in distant Yemen. • Britons desperately try to leave Israel as Iran's missiles fall The danger of escalation remains, however. It will not come from Iran's Arab neighbours, which quietly share hopes for an end to the Islamic republic and have so far shown commendable pragmatism in their response. It will come from a desperate Iranian attempt at terrorist revenge. Islamists across the West and those suborned to sow death among civilians will be primed to attack towns, people and prestige targets. Leaders meeting today at the G7 summit should understand that 'de-escalation' does not mean futile calls for restraint and emollient words for Tehran. It means a readiness to confront the likely Russian support for Iran, the stepping up of security across the West and active protection for Jews worldwide. Israel has already paid a price for going to war. Civilians have been killed by Iranian missiles getting through the Iron Dome defences: more may die. Binyamin Netanyahu, with the firm backing of hardliners in his cabinet, believes this is a price worth paying to end years of calls by Iran for the destruction of the Zionist state. He has also calculated that Mr Trump will stand by Israel, America's ally, militarily and politically, and that the focus will shift from the growing rift with Washington and Europe over Gaza. This puts Sir Keir Starmer on the spot. He wants to play the even-handed statesman, as much to promote a ceasefire in Gaza as to appease angry Muslim voters. But Britain carries no weight at all in Israel. Its support for the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu, its embargo of some arms for Israel and the recent sanctioning of two Israeli cabinet ministers have provoked only a contemptuous response from the Netanyahu cabinet. That, in turn, does not help Sir Keir to influence the course taken by the only ally who matters to Israel: Mr Trump. • Israel knows what we won't accept: the mullahs want nuclear war Talk of moral equivalence between Iran and Israel is ill-judged. The intention to make and probably use a nuclear bomb is a threat not only to the region but to world peace. Israel knows it must avoid civilian casualties; Iran wants maximum destruction rained down. The G7 needs a robust response. Nothing should appease Tehran.
