PM: We have to plan, this may go on for some time

Trump thinks it's all over, but Starmer still cautious

- LIZZY BUCHAN

DONALD Trump may believe the war in Iran is over, but Keir Starmer sounded a note of caution yesterday as he warned Britain should be prepared for the worst.

The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee yesterday focused on how to protect families from being hit by soaring energy bills as a result of the conflict.

And despite Trump's bravado, he urged MPs not to fall into the "false comfort" of expecting "a quick and easy end to this".

He said: "I think all our focus and energy has to be in the swift de-escalation, but we've got to plan on the basis that it could go on for some time and that's the way in which we'll plan." Brushing off jibes about his attitude to the war itself, Starmer said: "This is not our war and we are not getting dragged into this war." Earlier, Trump backed down from his threat to blitz Iran's energy plants if it failed to open the Strait of Hormuz by midnight.

The US president said Washington and Tehran had held talks aiming for an end to hostilities in the Middle East.

But as 5000 Marines steam towards the Gulf, Iran borrowed one of Trump's catchphrases, branding his claims "fake news".