Starmer insists 'we have a good relationship' with Trump after leaked intelligence reports over Iran strikes
Keir Starmer has insisted the relationship between the US and the UK remains "very close" - despite a leaked intelligence report suggesting US strikes didn't completely wipe out Iran's nuclear programme.
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The early intelligence assessment says Saturday's strikes on Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan only set back Tehran's capability by a few months.
Mr Trump has strongly rejected the findings claiming the media collaborated to "demean" the strike.
Starmer declined to comment on the leaked reports when speaking to LBC's Political Editor Natasha Clark at a NATO summit in The Hague.
However, he reiterated Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons and that the US "took action that alleviated that threat".
He added: "It is important that we ensure the ceasefire currently in place maintains and creates the space for the discussion, for Iran to come back to the table to negotiate a long-term settlement."
The Prime Minister also stressed he has a "good relationship" with the President, and that the UK worked with the US throughout last week as part of that "long-standing relationship".
"We're informed at every stage of the steps that were being taken, and that relationship is really important for our own national security.
"That relationship coupled with our leading role in NATOhas helped preserve peace for our citizens in the United Kingdom for a long time.
He added he is "absolutely determined" to do everything he can to make sure it continues for the current and upcoming generations.
'Treasonous'
Trump said on Tuesday that the media collaborated to "demean" the U.S. strike on the nuclear sites, describing the media as "scum".
Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, called the report’s leak "treasonous".
"Leaking that type of information, whatever the information, whatever side it comes out on, is outrageous," he told Fox News.
"It’s treasonous. So it ought to be investigated, and whoever did it, whoever is responsible for it, should be held accountable.
"According to an early US intelligence assessment, first reported by CNN, the country’s nuclear facilities were only partially damaged.
The report was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, and is based on damage assessment carried out by US Central Command, sources say.
The White House has reportedly acknowledged the claims but rejects them.
One source close to the investigation told CNN Iran’s nuclear centrifuges remain “largely intact.”
“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” the source added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the report “flat out wrong.”
She told CNN: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.
“The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has also rejected the report, saying: "Based on everything we have seen - and I've seen it all - our bombing campaign obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons.
"Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target - and worked perfectly.
"The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission."