US has ‘no plans' to recognise Palestinian state, Vance says on UK trip
Vance made the comments on Friday as he met British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in southern England. Last week, the UK declared its intention to recognise a Palestinian state along with France and Canada, in a bid to put pressure on Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
On Friday, Vance said the US had 'no plans' to do the same.
Asked by reporters about the UK's stance, Vance said both countries aimed to resolve the crisis in the Middle East but 'may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal'.
'I don't know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state, given the lack of functional government there,' he said.
'Our goals are very clear. We want to make it so that Hamas can't attack innocent people. We want to solve humanitarian problems in Gaza.'
Asked whether President Donald Trump had been given a heads-up on Israel's announced intent to occupy Gaza City, Vance said he would not go into such conversations. 'If it was easy to bring peace to that region of the world, it would have been done already,' he said.
He added that he expected Trump to 'talk at some point to the media about his response' to Israel's plan.
Old criticisms
Vance and Lammy also discussed the war in Ukraine before a possible summit next week between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vance, who has previously criticised the UK and its governing Labour Party, landed with his wife, Usha, and their three children in London before heading to Chevening, the large country residence used by the British foreign minister in Kent.
Vance has championed Trump's America First foreign policy and once said last year's election victory for Lammy's centre-left Labour meant the UK was 'maybe' the first 'truly Islamist' country with a nuclear weapon.
Lammy once called Trump a 'far-right extremist' and a 'neo-Nazi', but since coming to power has brushed off his remarks as 'old news'.
Vance's trip will include several official engagements, meetings and visits to cultural sites and a likely meeting with US troops, a source familiar with the planning told the Reuters news agency.
Vance is due to stay at Chevening throughout the weekend, according to the UK's foreign ministry. His family will then spend some time in the Cotswolds region in western England, UK media reported.
Reports have also said Vance will visit Scotland, where Trump spent five days at his golf resorts last month. Trump is also scheduled for a historic second state visit to the UK next month.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
3 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Lammy and Vance host Ukraine talks in UK
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy was scheduled to host a meeting of allied national security advisers on Saturday as US President Donald Trump pushes for a peace deal in Ukraine. Downing Street announced that the meeting at Lammy's official country retreat, Chevening, would bring together advisers from the US, Europe and Ukraine to 'discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace.' It is understood the meeting was arranged at the request of the US and will be co-hosted by US Vice President JD Vance, who is staying in Kent at Chevening at the start of his UK holiday. It comes after Trump announced that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The US president had earlier suggested that any peace deal was likely to involve 'some swapping of territories', with reports suggesting this could involve Ukraine giving up its Donetsk region. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has already rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine's territorial integrity, saying Kiev 'will not give Russia any awards for what it has done' and that 'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.' Ukraine's constitution forbids giving away territory. Ahead of the meeting at Chevening, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the talks in a call with Zelensky on Saturday morning. A Downing Street spokesperson said: 'Both leaders welcomed President Trump's desire to bring this barbaric war to an end and agreed that we must keep up the pressure on Putin to end his illegal war. (PA Media/dpa)
Qatar Tribune
3 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
UK announces more aid for Gaza as Israel plans war expansion
PA Media/dpa London The United Kingdom has announced another £8.5mn ($11.4mn) for UN aid to Gaza after Israel unveiled plans to expand its military operations in the territory. Development Minister Jenny Chapman said the money would 'help address urgent need' in Gaza, but only if Israel allowed the region to be 'flooded with aid.'She said: 'It is unacceptable that so much aid is waiting at the border - the UK is ready to provide more through our partners, and we demand that the government of Israel allows more aid in safely and securely.' 'The insufficient amount of supplies getting through is causing appalling and chaotic scenes as desperate civilians try to access tiny amounts of aid,' she added. The money, to be delivered through the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is part of a £101mn UK commitment to the Occupied Palestinian Territories this year. OCHA has warned of widespread hunger among Gaza's 2.1 million people, along with difficulties accessing water amid a severe heatwave and 'significant impediments and other delays' to UN efforts to provide aid. The UK's announcement comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy joined his counterparts from Australia, Italy, Germany and New Zealand to condemn Israeli plans to escalate the conflict by taking over Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that Israel would seek 'the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,' as well as 'Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip' and 'the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.' In their joint statement, the foreign ministers said the plans 'risk violating international law' and 'any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.'
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Iran rejects planned transit corridor outlined in Armenia-Azerbaijan pact
Iran has said it will block a corridor planned in the Caucasus under a United States-brokered peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which has been hailed by other countries in the region as beneficial for achieving lasting peace. Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said on Saturday that Tehran would block the initiative 'with or without Russia', with which Iran has a strategic alliance alongside Armenia. US President Donald Trump 'thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years', Velayati told state-affiliated Tasnim News, referring to the transport corridor included in the peace deal. 'This passage will not become a gateway for Trump's mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,' he added, describing the plan as 'political treachery' aimed at undermining Armenia's territorial integrity. The terms of the accord, which was unveiled at a signing ceremony at the White House on Friday, include exclusive US development rights to a route through Armenia that would link Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani enclave that borders Baku's ally Turkiye. The corridor, which would pass close to the border with Iran, would be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP, and operate under Armenian law. Velayati argued that it would open the way for NATO to position itself 'like a viper' between Iran and Russia. Separately, Iran's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing concern about the negative consequences of any foreign intervention in the vicinity of its borders. While it welcomed the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the ministry said any project near Iran's borders should be developed 'with respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and without foreign interference'. For its part, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautiously welcomed the deal, saying on Saturday that Moscow supported efforts to promote stability and prosperity in the region, including the Washington meeting. Similarly to Iran, however, it warned against outside intervention, arguing that lasting solutions should be developed by countries in the region. 'The involvement of non-regional players should strengthen the peace agenda, not create new divisions,' the ministry said, adding that it hoped to avoid the 'unfortunate experience' of Western-led conflict resolution in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Turkiye on Saturday said it hoped the planned transit corridor would boost exports of energy and other resources through the South Caucasus. A NATO member, Turkiye has strongly backed Azerbaijan in its conflicts with Armenia, but has pledged to restore ties with Yerevan after it signs a final peace deal with Baku. The Turkish presidency said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the peace agreement with Ilham Aliyev, his counterpart from Azerbaijan, and offered Ankara's support in achieving lasting peace in the region. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also addressed the planned corridor during a visit to Egypt, saying it could 'link Europe with the depths of Asia via Turkiye' and would be 'a very beneficial development'. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Armenia last year agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what Baku described as a 'long-awaited historic event'. Ahmad Shahidov, of the Azerbaijan Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that he expected a final peace declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be signed in the coming weeks. Shahidov said Friday's US-brokered deal constituted a 'roadmap' for the final agreement, which appears imminent given there are no unresolved territorial disputes between the two neighbours.
