The US President told the UK and other countries which did not take part in strikes against Iran, to \u201cget your own oil\u201d, saying they should attempt to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for the world\u2019s energy supplies, themselves now that the US had \u201cdone the hard part\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also reignited his row with Sir Keir Starmer<\/a>, hitting out at the government, which he said \u201crefused to get involved<\/a> in the decapitation of Iran<\/a>\u201d and telling it to \u201cstart learning how to fight for yourself\u201d.<\/p>\n Taking aim at the UK in a post on his Truth Social platform, he wrote: \u201cAll of those countries that can\u2019t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won\u2019t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren\u2019t there for us. <\/p>\n \u201cIran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil! President DJT\u201d.<\/p>\n Less than an hour after President Trump\u2019s post, his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, hit out at the Royal Navy, saying other countries \u201cought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway\u201d. <\/p>\n He told a press conference: \u201cIt is not just the United States Navy. Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the \u201cworld ought to pay attention, to be prepared to stand up\u201d, as he said that US forces had bombed an ammunition depot in the central Iranian city of Isfahan overnight. <\/p>\n His warning came hours after Iran set alight an oil tanker off the coast of Dubai. The fire, on the Kuwait-flagged Al-Slami, which was carrying two million barrels of oil valued at more than $200m, was brought under control following a drone attack.<\/p>\n In response to President Trump\u2019s rant, the defence secretary John Healey, who is on a visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain \u2013 countries which have borne the brunt of Iran\u2019s retaliatory action<\/a> \u2013 hit back saying that \u201cBritain\u2019s best\u201d was helping to protect partners and allies in the region. <\/p>\n Announcing that the UK was set to deploy extra troops to the Middle East, <\/a>bringing Britain\u2019s military presence to around 1,000, Mr Healey said that in his discussions with Gulf leaders in recent days, \u201cthey underline how valued Britain’s defensive help is \u2013 and they also underline the fact that they judge us by our actions and not our words.” <\/p>\n Multinational efforts continue to secure the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and “restore this economic lifeblood and artery in the world’s economy,” he added. <\/p>\n Downing Street pointed to Sir Keir\u2019s comments in recent days, in which he said his focus was on de-escalation in the war, after repeated insistence that the UK was not being dragged into the wider conflict.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s outburst comes after he reportedly told senior aides he is considering withdrawing from the conflict without a plan in place to open the Strait of Hormuz. That would leave Tehran<\/a> in control of the vital shipping<\/a> lane, prolonging economic chaos around the world. <\/p>\n Iran has imposed a de facto blockade on the waterway, upending global oil and gas supplies, which have caused energy prices to surge. The Islamic Republic has allowed some ships to pass through in a \u201ctollbooth\u201d system, where vessels pay as much as $2m per voyage or according to particular political and financial conditions.<\/p>\n But prolonged closure threatens to extend disruption to the world\u2019s energy supplies, with prices per barrel of oil continuing to rise above $100 \u2013 the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, average UK household energy bills are forecast to rise by almost \u00a3300 from July<\/a>, while motorists are already counting the cost of the war, with drivers paying \u00a3544 million extra for fuel since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began. Average diesel prices are up 40p a litre, while petrol has gone up 20p.<\/p>\n And households could also soon be paying more for groceries, experts have also warned, as the war drives up the price of synthetic fertiliser.<\/a> <\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer chaired a Cobra crisis committee on Tuesday to consider the impact on households and the wider economy. <\/p>\n Earlier, energy consumers minister Martin McCluskey said: “Tackling the affordability crisis is our number one priority, and I know many families will be thinking about how events in the Middle East might impact the cost of living at home.<\/p>\n “We will continue to fight people’s corner through this crisis and, as the energy secretary (Ed Miliband) has said, if it’s necessary to intervene, we will.”<\/p>\n Costs for homes reliant on heating oil, which are not covered by a broader energy price cap, have already soared, prompting ministers to announce a \u00a353 million package of support<\/a> for customers.<\/p>\n Sir Keir has previously promised to keep a planned rise in fuel duty from September “under review in light of what’s happening in Iran”. <\/p>\n It is not the first time President Trump and Sir Keir have been at loggerheads during the war. Within days of the conflict starting, the PM dramatically U-turned to allow the Americans permission to use RAF bases <\/a>to tackle the threat from Iran for the \u201climited specific defensive purpose\u201d of protecting UK and US allies across the Middle East. <\/a><\/p>\n Within weeks, President Trump had said he was “not happy” with the UK<\/a>, saying it “should be involved enthusiastically” in efforts to reopen the Strait. <\/p>\n He also infamously said that Sir <\/a>Keir <\/a>was \u201cno <\/a>Winston Churchill<\/a>\u2019 <\/a>and later branded Nato allies<\/a>, including the UK, \u201ccowards\u201d as he claimed they had failed to help reopen the waterway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-505514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1d46a85cd0a0d848676e37e08bab3c31Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzc0NjI0MDU1-2.81663003.jpg\")
Donald Trump said the UK should make its own attempts to unblock the Strait of Hormuz to get oil supplies going again (Leon Neal\/PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n![\"Damage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SEI291588080.jpeg\")
Damage to the Kuwait-flagged Al-Salmi crude oil tanker, following a reported strike, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, March 31, 2026. (REUTERS)<\/p>\n![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267772031.jpg\")
Smoke rises from the area of the Kuwait International Airport after a reported drone strike hit a fuel depot on March 25. (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n