DONALD Trump has claimed King Charles agrees that Iran “can never have a nuclear weapon”.
The US President told the room full of executives, entrepreneurs and politicians on Tuesday night that the Brit agreed with him on Iran “even more than me.”
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King Charles speaks with Donald Trump during the state dinner Credit: Getty
Trump delivering his toast in the East Room Credit: Getty
Charles did not directly mention Iran in his speech at the state dinner – but the American appears to have spoken for him.
Trump said during his toast: “We’re doing a little Middle East work right now… and we’re doing very well.”
“We have militarily defeated that particular opponent, and we’re never going to let that opponent ever, Charles agrees with me even more than I do, we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.
“They know that, and they’ve known it right now, very powerfully.”
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An Iranian missile test in 2010 Credit: AFP
Trump bombed Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant last year Credit: Reuters
The President’s comments were met with a round of applause from the audience.
Charles, meanwhile, alluded to the recent strain when he called on Trump to “renew” the bonds of friendship between America and the UK at this “critical time”.
He quipped that his mother had visited the US in 1957 to repair the damage caused by the Suez Crisis, but 70 years on “it is hard to imagine anything like that happening today”.
He went on to say the “indispensable alliance” was a “cornerstone of prosperity and security for both British and American citizens”.
It comes as…
Trump has taken shots at the UK and Sir Keir Starmer over the past few weeks after Britain didn’t join the fighting.
The special relationship between the two allies has come under unprecedented strain with Trump’s attacks.
Just last week a Pentagon document revealed the US could abandon its longstanding backing for British control of the Falklands.
Trump also slammed the PM as “very disappointing” at the beginning of March and then followed up days later, saying he was “no Churchill”.
Trump should consider King’s zingers the highest honour a Brit can bestow – Charles ran a diplomatic masterclass
By Matt Wilkinson – Royal Editor
BEFORE this trip all the talk was whether the King was the man who could save the “Special Relationship”.
Listening in the White House East Room to Charles’s relaxed after dinner speech I was wondering if he is also a man who can get away with making daring jokes about setting fire to the White House, the Boston Tea Party, and even Trump’s fall out with Starmer.
To corrupt a phrase coined by one of Trump’s White House predecessors “yes he can”.
After the seriousness of his Congress address the King let his hair down at the bash with a series of zingers.
This was a state dinner not banquet – a protocol which allowed him to be looser.
The jokes were delivered well and they almost all hit the mark. It was a light-hearted and fun speech. There was laughter all the right times.
Some of the topics were near the knuckle without ever being over played.
He rather skilfully and diplomatically reminded Trump that he was also Canada’s King.
A hands-off message delivered in that “beautiful” accent the President apparently admires.
In front of a VIP guest list the King also poked fun at Trump’s ballroom development as cranes were still working when he and Camilla were given a ceremonial welcome earlier in the day.
This trip has not hidden the historic reality that US fought a war to gain independence from Britain 250 years ago.
And Charles even brought up the Boston Tea Party and Brits sailing up the Potomac River and setting fire to the White House in 1814.
He even mentioned the President’s known fondness for Coca Cola.
Trump rose from his chair when a gift of a bell was revealed and the King said: “If you ever need to get hold of us, give us a ring”.
The President’s own speech unnecessarily dragged the King into the Iran conflict debate when he suggested ‘Charles agrees with me even more than I do.
We’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.’
But there has been a lot of talk about friendship on this trip. It is a truly British quality that friends make jokes about each other, without causing offence.
There is no greater compliment from a Brit than they consider you so much a friend they make a joke at your expense.
And to accept it. Consider it the highest honour Donald.
Trump’s comments come as his conflict with Iran remains deadlocked despite Tehran being in a “state of collapse”.
Terror leaders in the Iranian capital have offered Don a peace deal to re-open the paralysed Strait of Hormuz – but only if he lifts the US blockade and shelves demands for them to scrap nukes.
Tehran’s alleged attempts to get a bomb was a central reason that Trump attacked and why Iran has been a rogue state on the international stage.
But despite the strain, Charles delivered a light-hearted and fun toast at the State Dinner raising a laugh with guests when he said dinner was “a considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party”.
The King also gave Trump the original bell from a 1940s Royal Navy submarine called HMS Trump, a personal gift to symbolise friendship.
Charles told the President the gift was a sign of “our shared history and shining future”.
In his ten minute speech, which was Charles’s second of the day, he told guests at the black tie do the American spirit is defined by “courage, tenacity and the spirit of adventure”.
He added: “Tonight, we are here to renew an indispensable alliance which has long been a cornerstone of prosperity and security for both British and American citizens.
“Across the ocean and from coast to coast, we have traded, innovated and created together.
“We have stood together in the best of times and worst of times.
“Those challenges encourage us to reaffirm, tonight, the basis on which our partnership has been built”.
The King had already given an important speech to Congress earlier in the day where he had spoken about the special relationship between the UK and US.
