Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told an American audience that she does not understand why the United States went to war against Iran, reopening a rift with the Trump administration as the UK resists joining the conflict. Speaking at a CNBC event in Washington during the IMF spring meetings, Reeves said diplomatic negotiations were already underway before hostilities began and questioned the war's objectives.
“We’ve never been clear about what the goals of this conflict is,” Reeves said, adding that the war had not made the world safer. She noted that the Strait of Hormuz was open before the conflict and urged a return to diplomacy to ease energy price rises. Her remarks follow Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s insistence that Britain will not join the war, despite President Trump threatening to scrap the US-UK trade deal.
Reeves also addressed the IMF’s downgrade of UK growth forecasts, expressing confidence that the economy would outperform projections. “We beat the forecasts for the UK economy last year. I’m confident that we will beat them again,” she said, while acknowledging long-term damage to Middle East oil and gas infrastructure.
The chancellor’s blunt comments came hours after Starmer told PMQs he would not alter Britain’s stance on the war, stating: “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war, and we will not do so.” The Treasury is now assessing potential impacts on trade talks with Washington.
