Health secretary says failure of peace talks ‘disappointing’ and that UK-US relations have undoubtedly been strained
Middle East crisis – live updates
Wes Streeting has criticised Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Iran as “incendiary, provocative and outrageous” and called the failure of US-Iran peace talks “disappointing”, but said the success of future negotiations was necessary “in all of our interests”.
“As ever in diplomacy, you’re failing until you succeed,” the health secretary told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News. “So while these talks may not have ended in success, that doesn’t mean there isn’t merit in continuing to try.”
A fragile two-week truce announced on Tuesday has been thrown into uncertainty after Washington and Tehran’s 21 hours of negotiations ended without a peace agreement being reached in the early hours of Sunday. The US vice-president, JD Vance, who was in Pakistan for the talks, said Iran’s refusal to commit to not building a nuclear weapon was the reason for the lack of a deal.
