Rachel Reeves had an angry exchange with her US counterpart, Scott Bessent, in Washington last month over the war in Iran, sources have said, in the latest sign of the deepening tensions between the two countries.<\/p>\n
The chancellor and the US treasury secretary argued in person during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund, according to people briefed on the exchange, confirming a story first reported<\/a> by the Financial Times.<\/p>\n The row centred on Reeves\u2019s criticisms over the Iran conflict, which she made in public before the meetings began, triggering an angry backlash from some in the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Criticisms by Reeves and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, have caused the biggest rift in US-UK relations for decades, with the US president, Donald Trump, threatening to rip up a trade deal<\/a> and to recognise Argentina\u2019s claims to the Falkland Islands<\/a> in response.<\/p>\n Reeves told the Mirror<\/a> on 14 April she felt \u201cvery frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan\u201d, calling the war a \u201cfolly\u201d.<\/p>\n She then travelled to the US, where she told CNBC<\/a> the goals of the war had \u201cnever been clear\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not convinced this conflict has made the world a safer place,\u201d Reeves told a panel organised by the US broadcaster. \u201cIt\u2019s not been clear over the last six weeks what exactly the aim of this conflict is.\u201d<\/p>\n According to those briefed on her meetings, Bessent upbraided her over the comments during an in-person meeting on 15 April, including invoking the threat of an Iranian nuclear attack on Britain.<\/p>\n He is understood to have made comments along the lines of those he made to the BBC<\/a> a day earlier, when he responded to concerns about the war\u2019s economic fallout by saying: \u201cI wonder what the hit to global GDP would be if a nuclear weapon hit London.\u201d<\/p>\n Reeves responded by telling the treasury secretary she was not his employee and did not like his tone.<\/p>\n One UK official said: \u201cReeves was as direct in private with Bessent about her views on the Iran [war] as she was in public.\u201d<\/p>\n Downing Street said on Tuesday: \u201cThe chancellor and the US treasury secretary have a good relationship. They have had constructive conversations together since the chancellor\u2019s visits to Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n British government sources also pointed to a US treasury readout of the meeting in the immediate aftermath.<\/p>\n The department said at the time<\/a>: \u201cDuring their discussion, Secretary Bessent underscored the US treasury\u2019s commitment to Economic Fury, leveraging all tools and authorities against those who continue to support Iran\u2019s terrorist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n The war in Iran has created arguably the biggest divide between the US and UK since the Suez crisis of 1956.<\/p>\n Having gone to great lengths to keep Trump on side in the early months of his premiership, Starmer has taken an increasingly outspoken position against the president\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n At a meeting of the European Political Community in Armenia this weekend, the prime minister said<\/a>: \u201cWe cannot deny that some of the alliances that we have come to rely on are not in the place we would want them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n With transatlantic tensions high, the president has in recent weeks threatened to unpick a trade deal that has already been agreed, impose fresh tariffs in response to the UK\u2019s digital services tax and recognise Argentinian control of the Falklands.<\/p>\n