President Donald Trump said Tuesday the United States has “no closer friend” than Britain as he welcomed King Charles III to the White House for a state visit amid tensions over the Iran war. In the speech, which was greeted with fanfare and a 21-gun salute, Trump’s tone was a sharp contrast to his recent widespread criticism of the British government for failing to engage in the conflict with Tehran. “In the centuries since we won our independence, Americans have never had a closer friend than the British,” Trump said. Using a phrase valued by British governments since it was first used by Winston Churchill after World War II, Trump said the two countries had a “special relationship, and we hope it will always remain that way.” Trump also praised the British military, saying that despite recently deriding Britain’s two aircraft carriers as “toys”, “nobody has ever fought a better fight than the United States”.
