Trump Says U.S. Will Leave Region "Very Soon," Slams Starmer as "Not Churchill" After UK Refuses to Join Iran Strikes

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin on Tuesday, March 17, said the United States is not yet ready to leave the region but will do so "in the very near future." Referring to joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Islamic Republic military targets, Trump said the opposing side has been "severely weakened from every direction," and noted that the U.S. has had broad support from Middle Eastern countries throughout the campaign, but has received "virtually no support from NATO." Trump sharply criticized UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying: "Unfortunately, he is not Winston Churchill." The remarks came just hours after Starmer announced that Britain would not be drawn into a wider war in Iran, but said it would cooperate with allies on a "practical" plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a mission he acknowledged would be "difficult" without de-escalation across the Middle East. Star­mer, speaking at a press conference aimed at reassuring the public over rising energy costs, again defended his decision not to participate in the initial U.S.-Israel strikes on the Islamic Republic. While he did not completely rule out action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he stressed that any military move must come with "maximum consensus among international partners." This comes after Trump last weekend explicitly called on the UK, China, France, Japan, and South Korea to send their naval vessels to the region to help lift the Hormuz blockade. Trump added that Washington wants the outcome of this war to be "more lasting" so that, in his words, future U.S. administrations will not face such a crisis and the issue will be resolved once and for all. This comes as the Trump administration's initial estimate for the duration of the war with the Islamic Republic was approximately four to five weeks, but Israel has announced no time limit on ending its operations and says it will continue strikes until its stated objectives are achieved.