Pete Hegseth removes Britain from list of US allies after Keir Starmer's failure to support Iran war

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has chastised Britain once again for its failure to support America's offensive in Iran.

In a damning written statement to Congress, Mr Hegseth said allies' refusal to join in was "unconscionable" - and warned: "We will remember."

He then threatened "consequences" would follow for Nato members which "do not step up".

Mr Hegseth said Nato had become "beset by free-riding" in the wake of the Cold War, and called on allies to "step up and make good on their commitments to our collective defence".

"Not all allies have gotten the message, and where they do not step up, there will be consequences," he said.

"In recent weeks, for instance, far too many of our Nato allies showed that they could not be relied upon to support our nation’s operations against Iran - despite the fact that they themselves are far more reliant on Middle East energy markets than we are, and also share our interest in denying Iran a nuclear weapons and otherwise degrading Iran’s power projection capabilities.

"This is unconscionable - and we will remember."

Mr Hegseth then notably left Britain and France off a list of "model allies" which included Israel, South Korea, Poland, Finland and the Baltic states.

He has previously dismissed Anglo-French efforts to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz once the war ends as "silly".

He continued: "Americans want partners - not dependencies. And, thanks to President Trump's visionary leadership, that is what we are building. Real partnerships and alliances based on hard power.

"Our allies aren’t powerless. They are nations capable of doing far more for themselves than they have. It's time they stood up, and some of them are."

More to follow...