LONDON — Boris Johnson on Wednesday dismissed as “fiction” accusations he is more interested in a close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump than he is with the security of the Middle East.
The U.K. prime minister, making his first public appearance since the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, said he was having a “great deal of success” in bringing together a European response to the situation in Iran and “bridging the European response with that, of course, of our American friends.” London is working with both the Iranians and the Iraqis to “dial this thing down,” Johnson told the House of Commons.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had accused Johnson of being “unable to stand up to President Trump because he has hitched his wagon to a trade deal with the United States and that prioritizes everything else that he ought to be considering.”
Corbyn told MPs the U.S. action had “undoubtedly” escalated the risk of a dangerous conflict in the region, putting civilians, U.K. troops and British nationals at risk and leaving the Iran nuclear deal in danger of being “dead in the water.”