Trump insists Iran war is worth it and fuel costs will come down despite economic chaos
Andy Burnham said before the meeting that he would stress the need to end the conflict as soon as possible.
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Donald Trump insisted oil prices would plummet once the conflict with Iran is over and defended his military action despite the global economic chaos it has unleashed.
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The US president, speaking after talks with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, said “people understand” the need to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, even if that meant price hikes at the petrol pumps and in shops.
Mr Burnham had said before the talks he would stress the need to end the conflict as soon as possible because of the impact it was having on the cost-of-living crisis in the UK.
Asked if he had sympathy with countries like the UK suffering from high prices because of the Iran conflict, Mr Trump said: “I think as soon as the war is over, the numbers are going to come way down, pricing generally, because oil is the big thing.
“When oil goes up – and we had to do that because we have to stop them, and I think we feel very united on that- we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
“And people understand that in the United States, and they’re paying more than – less than Biden, by the way, less than the Biden administration and yet he did nothing about the threat of nuclear terror.”
Read more: US-UK relationship ‘more up’ with Burnham than Starmer, says Trump as leaders meet for first time
Mr Trump said “I think a settlement is going to be reached” with Iran, claiming they “have been talking to us even today”.
“They’ve been talking to us, and the relationship is developing, let’s say,” he said.
“But we can’t let them – and they understand that- we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon and there’s a price to pay for that.”
Relations between the US and the UK deteriorated after Sir Keir Starmer blocked Mr Trump from using British military bases including Diego Garcia to attack Iran.
“When we bombed the Iran nuclear, we sent the B-2 bombers back home to Missouri,” he said, rather than using the British Indian Ocean Territory base.
Mr Trump suggested previous presidents or other nations could have stepped in to take action against Iran.
“You know, some countries could have stepped forward, but there aren’t too many countries, frankly, that could have handled that,” he said.
“So I think we’ve done a great job. They will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Ahead of the New York meeting with Mr Trump in the United Nations building, Mr Burnham was asked whether he would encourage the US leader to bring the conflict to an end because of the economic impact it was having.
Mr Burnham said: “Of course the message is that we want to see an end to the conflict as quickly as possible and we stand ready to play our part.”
In a readout of the meeting, Downing Street confirmed “the leaders spoke about the importance of reopening global shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and how Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, with the Prime Minister noting how the conflict clearly impacted the cost of living at home”.