President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. A former Nato commander has urged Britain not to follow “gung-ho nutter” Donald Trump into war in the Middle East.General Sir Richard Shirreff warned Sky News that the Americans’ lack of strategy following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran could have far-reaching consequences for anyone who gets involved.Trump has lashed out at Keir Starmer after the prime minister hesitated over US requests to use British military bases to attack Iran.The UK has since granted access for “limited” and defensive American strikes – and Iran has subsequently hit an RAF base in Cyprus.Meanwhile, Trump and his top team are still yet to offer a comprehensive explanation for their attacks.Former deputy supreme allied commander of Nato, Sir Richard suggested to Sky News that it was not wise for Britain to get involved in the war.He said any idea of a “special relationship” between the UK and US does not exist, adding: “It is a complete fantasy. America does what America wants to do and Britain’s got to look after its interests.”“Britain shooting drones, Britain engaging in offensive or defensive operations is invidious, frankly,” the former commander continued. “We should not in any way, shape or form, be involved with the Americans closely because they are being led by a couple of gung-ho nutters, like Trump and [US Secretary of War Pete] Hegseth, without a proper strategy, without serious thought about what end-state for this war is.”“Unless we keep cool heads, as the prime minister is attempting to do, and think things through very very carefully this thing could go in the way of Iraq,” he said.“Yet again we have an American president who has gone to war, a war of choice, a war of hubris frankly, without any clear idea of how the war ends, without a clear strategy.”Starmer has so far managed to draw a distinctive line between the UK and the US’s aggression, even though Britain has just sent a warship to Cyprus. After Trump said the prime minister was “no Winston Churchill”, Starmer said the US attacks on Iran were illegal and that the White House had no plan.And on Thursday, the PM said Trump had plunged the region “into chaos”.Similarly, Sir Richard said: “The Americans might be getting frightfully excited about sinking submarines, X number of missions bombing the Iranians to bits, but unless there’s a strategy, unless they have thought about what they are doing on the minds of the Iranian people, this thing is going to go south very quickly.”He said: “The idea of assassinating the Ayatollah, Khamenei, not just Iran’s head of state but the religious symbol for Shiites worldwide during the month of Ramadan, is about as subtle as murdering the Pope on the steps of St Peter’s during holy week.“It will enflame the Shiite world and what you’re doing by doing that is probably putting large numbers of Iranians who might have been reconcilable back into the folds of the irreconcilable.” Related…Donald Trump’s Bombing Of Iran Has ‘Plunged Middle East Into Chaos’, Says StarmerTrump Officials Now Want Ukraine’s Help To Counter Iranian Drones In The Ultimate Twist Of IronyBBC Expert Condemns US Plan For After Iran Bombing Stops: ‘There Are Huge Question Marks’ HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public) Read More