British PM Keir Starmer has insisted sovereignty of the Falkland Islands ‘rests with the UK’ after a bombshell Pentagon email exposed a plan to withdraw US support.

Bethan Moss - The Sun

Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at Donald Trump’s threat to Britain’s sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

Downing Street insisted the overseas territory will “remain” under UK control after an internal Pentagon memo revealed the US could withdraw support for Britain’s claim over the islands as punishment for failing to back America over the Iran war.

Sir Keir’s spokesman said today: “We could not be clearer about the UK’s position on the Falkland Islands. It’s long standing. It’s unchanged.

“Sovereignty rests with the UK, and the Islands’ right to self determination is paramount. That’s been our consistent position and will remain the case.”

He added: “The PM has been clear repeatedly that he won’t be pressured. He will always take a strong position on the UK’s national interests, and the Falklands is no different to that.”

The bombshell plan emerged in an internal Pentagon email that laid out options to get back at NATO allies, who the president says were not there when he needed them in Iran.

Mr Trump has repeatedly slammed NATO as a “paper tiger” in recent weeks, and even hinted at leaving the alliance altogether.

Policy options to punish the alliance were laid out in a note that expresses frustration about allies who refused to give the US access, basing and overflight rights (ABO) for the Iran war.

The note, described to Reuters by an anonymous US official, raged that these rights are “just the absolute baseline for NATO”.

One option listed in the email was kicking Spain from the alliance altogether.

After the UK refused to let the US use its British bases to blitz Iran at the start of the war, the note considered reviewing support for longstanding European “imperial possessions”.

These included the Falkland Islands, a self-governed British overseas territory located south of Argentina.

Britain fought a bitter war to defend the Falklands Islands in 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the territory.

Lord Admiral West, who commanded the HMS Ardent during the war, told The Sun: “Donald Trump does not understand NATO, alliances in general or alliance leadership.

“He appears disposed to allow the most successful political-military alliance in modern history to be destroyed.

“Vladimir Putin could not be happier.”

He added: “If true, the fact that US officials are compiling a list of how they can ‘punish’ NATO countries is extraordinary on many levels.

“Mention of the Falkland Islands is an insult to its autonomous, self-reliant and free people.”

Falklands veteran Rear Admiral Chris Parry told The Sun that it was unlikely Mr Trump would pull support because “in terms of international law, the British claims the Falklands is pretty ironclad.”

But he added: “If the US did come out and say that they don’t support our bid for the Falklands, those of us who fought there and those who lost friends are going to feel pretty let down by our NATO allies.”

Parry said the UK is in a “period of weakness, which our potential opponents could exploit if they wanted to”.

He said the government is “betraying generations of veterans, including those who fought in the Falklands, unless there’s a real commitment to increasing defence provision.”

Parry accused the government of having a “very ambivalent stance towards maintaining sovereignty of British overseas and island territories.”

He added: “You’ve got 2800 people who want to stay British there, it’s up to us to defend their right to remain British.”

The official said the note was circulating at the very highest levels of the Pentagon.

When Mr Trump was asked at the start of the month if he would leave the alliance, he replied: “Wouldn’t you if you were me?”

It sparked fears that the US could pull its military might from NATO at an already fragile moment.

But the Pentagon note did not include an option for the US to pull out of NATO altogether or close bases in Europe, the official said.

It did consider suspending “difficult” countries from taking on top NATO roles, and reassessing US diplomatic support for European “imperial possessions”.

And the official refused to answer when asked if the note included an option for a widely expected US drawdown of some forces from Europe.

Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said: “As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us.

“The War Department will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect.”

It comes after reports emerged that the US was weighing up punishing “unhelpful” NATO nations – he has continually blasted the alliance for “failing” over their response to the Iran war.

Mr Trump has called out the UK specifically in his tirades against allies, after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer refused to let him bomb Iran from American bases in the UK in the first days of the war.

The US President ordered NATO allies to “grab and cherish” the Strait of Hormuz, but support was not forthcoming from the defensive alliance.

Britain and allies pledged to make the waterway safe again for shipping after the conflict, but Mr Trump said it was too late.

He blasted on Truth Social: “I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL.

“They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!”

Britain is ready to deploy a squadron of Qatar-based RAF Typhoons once the war is over to patrol the strait.

As part of a multi-national mission to clear the crucial waterway, it could also deploy mine-hunting drones and specialist divers.

Last night, Mr Trump threatened “a big tariff” on the UK as he fumed over Britain’s Digital Services Tax (DST) - a 2 per cent levy on large US platforms operating in the UK - accusing it of unfairly “targeting” US companies.

During a White House press briefing Mr Trump said: “We don’t like it when they target American companies because basically you’re talking about our great American companies.

“We can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful.”

Mr Trump also hit out at Prince Harry overnight, claiming he “is not speaking for the UK” after the Duke of Sussex urged Washington to honour its commitments in Ukraine.

The US President said he was “speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry”.

Mr Trump has his deadline for Iran to agree to a deal, but when asked about when one might come last night, he replied: “Don’t rush me”.

“We were in Vietnam for 18 years.”

He told reporters: “Every story I see, ‘Oh, Trump is under time pressure,’ I’m not. No, no. You know who’s under time pressure? They are.”

The US President said he was making good progress and that he wanted a deal that would be “everlasting”.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/38914689/trump-threatens-falklands-uk-nato-allies/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5860356&forum_id=2...id#49841477)