US President Donald Trump said the Britain-US relationship is “obviously not what it was,” as Britain reaffirmed its decision not to join the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, British media reported on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Sun, Trump said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has “not been helpful.”

“I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK,” Trump said, adding: “It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was.”

Trump said he is “very disappointed” in Starmer for blocking him from using the military base in Diego Garcia to carry out strikes on Iran. Britain’s previous refusal to let US forces use the base was unlike anything that had “happened between our countries before,” Trump said.

In Sunday’s statement, Starmer accepted the US request to use the base for “specific and limited defensive purposes.” But Trump said Starmer “took far too long” to change his mind.

Starmer on Monday told the British parliament that Britain is not joining the US and Israeli “offensive strikes” on Iran.

“President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest,” he said.

The US president implied the oft-cited special relationship between the two countries has hit the rocks in blasting the prime minister’s perceived lack of support for America’s strikes on Iran.

According to LBC report, Trump’s latest outburst follows his admonishment of Sir Keir over his delay in allowing the US to use the Chagos Islands airbase.

Mr Trump said: “[Sir Keir] has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK. We love the UK. It’s a different world, actually. It’s just a much different kind of relationship that we’ve had with your country before.”

The negative comments from the president are a world removed from pomp, pageantry and backslaps of the unprecedented second royal visit Trump was granted last year, according to LBC.

But where has it gone right and wrong for this odd couple in their relationship thus far?

Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, with a new UK prime minister in Sir Keir as well as a different monarch from when he was last president from 2017 to 2021. Trump and Labour PM Sir Keir are not natural allies.

The Chagos Islands, Nato spending and grooming gangs were all issues the president took issue with the prime minister over in the months after he entered No.10 Downing Street in July 2024.

Elon Musk was also a challenge, with Trump’s money saving government czar having called Sir Keir “evil”.

And Sir Keir, for his own party, had once tweeted: “An endorsement from Donald Trump tells you everything you need to know about what is wrong with Boris Johnson’s politics and why he isn’t fit to be prime minister.”

Despite their differences, the pair attempted to form a relationship, LBC reports

• A Tell Media / Xinhua report