Why UK needs to pander to Trump but should not necessarily believe him

The US attack on Iran may not have been quite so devastating for its nuclear programme as Donald Trump suggested but it does provide a welcome reminder to Iran’s despotic regime about how vulnerable they are

Following the US attack on Iran, Donald Trump said its nuclear enrichment facilities had been “completely and fully obliterated”, setting back the tyrannical regime’s plans by “decades”. However, according to a leaked preliminary assessment by the Pentagon, the missile strikes only caused a delay of a few months.

Amid the ensuing uproar over these very different takes, the US President attacked the media for reporting the classified document’s findings, saying they were "scum" and "disgusting", while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused those behind the leak of being "professional stabbers".

But, clearly, what matters is what has actually happened. If Iran still has the ability to quickly develop nuclear weapons, the world needs to be alive to that threat. With the situation still unclear, it would be far better to err on the side of caution.

READ MORE: How could Iran retaliate after US strikes its nuclear programme?

Keir Starmer speaks to US President Donald Trump at the Nato summit in The Hague (Picture: Kin Cheung/pool) | Getty Images

Axis of Autocracies

Where Trump deserves credit is that the US attack has demonstrated to Iran’s leaders how vulnerable they are, and this may have a deterring effect on a regime, widely despised by its own people, which poses a very real threat to world peace.

It is a member of what former Nato Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has described as the “Axis of Autocracies”, along with Russia, China and North Korea. The combined threat these dictatorships pose is the reason why the world needs a much stronger Nato.

And that means European leaders must sometimes swallow their pride and be rather sycophantic towards Trump, even as he continues to cast doubt on his commitment to the Nato treaty which states an attack on one will be treated as an attack on all.

The UK and Europe have no choice but to spend more on defence – commensurate with the increased threats facing the world and also, again erring on the side of caution, in case Trump decides to withdraw from the alliance, formally or not.

Trump likes to say that everything he does is the “best”, so his description of the missile strikes was typical. But our political leaders must always be grounded in reality, not deluded by overblown rhetoric, and never take their eye off the ball over the defence of this country.