NewNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
London: The United Kingdom announced on Tuesday that it would deploy military assets “as part of a future defensive mission to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
While the move could be seen as a positive step toward improving relations with the US, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s reluctance to join with the US in “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran still irks Washington – particularly President Donald Trump.
Trump has dismissed Starmer as “no Churchill.” In a recent interview with Sky News, the President further complained about the lack of British alignment: “When we asked them for help, they weren’t there. When we needed them, they weren’t there… and they’re still not there.”
Trump calls Starmer ‘not Winston Churchill’ for refusing to support Iran attack.
British soldiers take part in the Swift Response 22 military exercise at the Krivolak military training center in Negotino, North Macedonia, on May 12, 2022. The exercise involved approximately 4,600 troops from North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Greece, Italy, France, the UK and the US, demonstrating the ability of NATO forces to deploy and fully cooperate globally. (Robert Atanasovsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump also took aim at the British Navy’s preparedness, ridiculing the fleet during a White House meeting in March.
“We told the UK, ‘We will send’ – this was three weeks ago – ‘We will send our aircraft carriers,’ which are not the best aircraft carriers,” Trump said, according to Sky News. “They’re toys compared to what we have.”
Two recent reports by a leading military expert and a parliamentary committee may partly explain why Britain did not aggressively engage in the war.
one in title of the report, Matthew Saville, director of military science at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), wrote, “The Iran war gives Britain a stark lesson in hard power.”
FILE: Soldiers in action as the British Army demonstrates the latest and future technology used in operations around the world at the Salisbury Plain training area in Salisbury, England, October 29, 2019. (Finbar Webster/Getty Images)
While the report was written while the war was still ongoing, Saville said, “There is growing pressure for the deployment of more UK forces to the region and direct involvement in attacks, but the government will need to answer tough questions about priority and the impact it is trying to achieve. The result is that as much as intention and policy motivate UK involvement, practical realities constrain what the UK can do.”
Saville said, “On the defensive side, the UK has not been passive… [U.K. assets] “This also appears to include some counter-drone units – which have been involved in shooting down Iranian drones while defending Jordan and Iraq.”
Britain deploys warships and helicopters to Cyprus after drone attack
President Donald Trump delivers remarks as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer applaud after the signing of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on October 13, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
Saville wrote that “The challenge for the UK is that over the past few years, UK armed forces commitments and visible presence in the region have been decreasing, as a result of pressure on the military and a conscious decision to give priority elsewhere, most recently in the ‘NATO First’ approach. Strategic Defense Review to 2025“
While the Starmer government has committed to increasing defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, experts have warned that this investment may come too late to restore the UK’s ability to project power globally in the near term.
“Britain’s military capabilities have been systematically underfunded over the last 15 years,” John Hemmings, director of the Henry Jackson Center for National Security, told Fox News, with spending reviews and cuts beginning in 2009 and 2010 under Prime Minister David Cameron. At the time the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) said the world was in a much more dangerous situation, but the financial devastation of the 2008 financial crisis pushed the government to make the cuts. In a series of actions that were intended to be short-term, instead, the Cameron government sent the UK armed services into a cycle of terminal decline that continues to this day.”
Trump praised for enlisting NATO allies to increase defense spending: ‘Really shocking’
The Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon is moored at the Royal Navy Dockyard in Portsmouth, England, on October 28, 2024. Britain announced on May 12, 2026 that it would deploy autonomous mine hunting equipment, counter drone systems with Typhoon jets and HMS Dragon as part of a future defensive mission to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Hemings said, “Consider the Royal Navy, Britain’s principal service and source of great power reach; only 25 of the 63 commissioned ships are actual combat ships. The size of this force is impossible to meet Britain’s overseas responsibilities and has seen a 50% reduction in just 30 years. In 1996, there were 22 frigates, 17 submarines, 15 destroyers and 3 aircraft carriers. Today’s Sea Lords must strive to fulfill the same duties with seven frigates, 10 submarines, six destroyers, two aircraft carriers, and new capabilities such as enhanced domestic air and missile defense and advanced command and control systems.
A US Navy ship launches Tomahawk land attack missiles in support of Operation Epic Fury. (US Central Command Public Affairs)
A Second report released last month, The House of Lords International Relations and Defense Committee, titled: ‘Adjusting to New Realities: Rebalancing the UK-US Partnership’, presents a number of key recommendations where it warned of excessive reliance on the US “Although the UK has benefited from close co-operation with the US on defence, it has fostered a culture of dependency that has led to a decline in UK capabilities and a reduction in UK credibility in Washington. The government needs to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. “Must provide a clear and cost-effective route to achieving that commitment.”
While the Defense Ministry did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the state of the forces, Fox News Digital recently reported that the UK government said it was reversing the rate of decline in the force, adding that by January 1, 2026, total armed forces strength was 182,050 personnel, including 136,960 regular soldiers, an increase from the previous year.
Click here to download Fox News App
The government has also promised the largest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War, with military spending set to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027, supported by an additional £5 billion (about $6.6 billion) this fiscal year and £270 billion (about $360 billion) in defense investment during the current Parliament. Britain has also said it aims to increase defense spending to 3% of GDP by the end of the next parliament.
Analysts say while some in the Trump administration see Britain’s absence as a betrayal of the special relationship, others might say it is a tough lesson in the limitations of a medium-sized power that has tried to maintain a global footprint on a shrinking budget.
