Pete Hegseth took a swipe at the "big bad Royal Navy" in the Trump administration's latest insult to the US's allies, as he called for Britain and other nations to join the effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping traffic.
Speaking at a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday (31 March), the US defense secretary said: “There are countries around the world who ought be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well.
"Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.”
It comes after Donald Trump likened UK aircraft carriers to “toys”, telling Sir Keir Starmer “not to bother” sending vessels to the Gulf.