UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves had a heated exchange with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington last month over the war in Iran, according to sources briefed on the meeting. The confrontation occurred during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund, highlighting growing tensions between the two allies.
The row centered on Reeves’s public criticisms of the Iran conflict, which she made before the meetings began. In an interview on 14 April, Reeves described the war as a “folly” and expressed frustration over the lack of a clear exit plan. She later told CNBC that the conflict’s goals had “never been clear” and questioned whether it had made the world safer.
During their in-person meeting on 15 April, Bessent reportedly upbraided Reeves over her comments, invoking the threat of an Iranian nuclear attack on Britain. He is understood to have made remarks similar to those he made to the BBC a day earlier, when he asked: “I wonder what the hit to global GDP would be if a nuclear weapon hit London.” Reeves responded by telling Bessent she was not his employee and did not like his tone.
One UK official said: “Reeves was as direct in private with Bessent about her views on the Iran [war] as she was in public.” Downing Street, however, said the two have a good relationship and have had constructive conversations since the visit. A US Treasury readout at the time noted that Bessent underscored the department’s commitment to “Economic Fury” against those supporting Iran’s terrorist activities.
The war in Iran has created arguably the biggest divide between the US and UK since the Suez crisis of 1956. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has taken an increasingly outspoken position against US foreign policy, warning that some alliances are “not in the place we would want them to be.” In response, President Donald Trump has threatened to unpick a trade deal, impose fresh tariffs, and recognise Argentina’s claims to the Falkland Islands, though he struck a more conciliatory note during the recent visit of King Charles and the Queen.
