Sir Keir on Sunday spoke to Mr Trump for the first time since the US president called for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

The pair “discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Elsewhere, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has mobilised more than £5 million in aid for humanitarian organisations in Lebanon amid a war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.

Our political editor David Maddox writes…

Keir Starmer will today unveil plans to help the approximately 1.5 million households which use heating oil but it is going to bring a question: “What about the rest of us?”

There is a good reason for the government to help people who rely on heating oil to keep their homes warm particularly as the winter weather stretches on into the spring.

These households are not protected by the energy price cap and the government has been accusing suppliers of so-called “price gouging” – taking advantage of the current Iran war to hike prices.

But the issue for the prime minister is that now he is agreeing to this limited intervention it will fuel demands for a wider one.

In particular, there is massive pressure growing over petrol and diesel costs on garage forecourts with demands that Rachel Reeves cancels her 5p hike in fuel duty in September.

There will be only so long that the PM can say it will be reviewed in the autumn as political momentum grows on this issue especially as prices inevitably go up.

So today’s announcement on heating oil can also be perhaps seen as an indicator of another one of Sir Keir’s infamous U-turns this time on fuel duty.

Stormont finance Minister John O’Dowd has said any UK Government subsidy for those who use heating oil to warm their homes must be “meaningful”.

Mr O’Dowd wrote to the Treasury last week calling for a financial intervention over the cost of the energy price spike caused by the war in the Middle East.

Mr O’Dowd told the BBC that the powersharing Executive did not have the “financial wherewithal to make a meaningful contribution to support hard-pressed working families”.

Around two-thirds of homes in Northern Ireland use home heating oil.

Mr O’Dowd said: “While we welcome the fact that we now have a clear indication from the Government that there will be a financial intervention, it is going to have to be meaningful, it is going to have to be delivered quickly and it is going to have to make a difference to those who are facing financial crisis.

“We haven’t been given the detail of any scheme, my officials will be engaging further today with Treasury.”

Turns out America needs friends after all. Donald Trump has appealed via social media, specifically and “hopefully”, to “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others” to send ships and help free the Strait of Hormuz. Indeed, President Trump has since extended his dubious invitation to all “the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait”. Presumably that would even mean welcoming the North Korean “People’s Navy” to help out by escorting oil tankers and other commercial maritime traffic.

Curiously, the US Navy hasn’t, as yet, placed itself in harm’s way in this mined, dangerous but vital waterway, and nor has Mr Trump tried to enlist the Russian navy, funnily enough.

At any rate, this a very different stance from that initially adopted by Mr Trump, who not so very long ago insulted the British prime minister on social media in the following childish terms: “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”

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Ministers will set out a £50mn package to help households facing spiralling energy costs in the wake of the Iran war.

The intervention, which has been confirmed by government officials, will mainly help around one million homes in rural areas of Northern Ireland who rely on heating oil.

The fuel is not protected by the energy price cap and its price per litre has doubled as a result of the stranglehold on oil leaving the Middle East since the US-Israeli war with Iran began.

Last week, Ms Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband met oil firm bosses and forecourt operators to warn them against profiteering.

Donald Trump has a “transactional” approach to international affairs, a Cabinet minister said in response to the US president’s latest comments on Iran.

The US president has suggested the future of Nato is at stake if allies do not contribute to his mission to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Sky News: “That’s the president right there. The quote that you’ve just given has summed him up.

“It’s a very transactional presidency and our job is to navigate this, to always remember that the friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom runs very deep.

“It’s a good relationship. It’s enduring and I think it will outlast all the personalities involved.”

Sir Keir Starmer will use his press conference on Monday to criticise his domestic political rivals Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage over their approach to the Iran crisis.

The Prime Minister is expected to say: “Moments like this also tell you about leadership… Now, there are others who would have made a different decision two weeks ago.

“They would have rushed the UK headlong into this war without the full picture of what they were sending our forces into and without a plan to get us out.

“That’s not leading, it’s following.

“My leadership is about standing firm for the British interest. No matter the pressure.

“And I believe time will show that we have the right approach. Right on the economy and the cost of living. Right on defence and energy.

“And right on this war, in the best interests of the British people.”

Donald Trump’s comments about the risk to Nato if allies do not contribute to the military effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz have been played down by a Cabinet minister.

The UK appears unlikely to agree to the US president’s call for allies to contribute warships to a mission to protect shipping passing through the waterway from Iranian attacks.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Times Radio: “There’s a lot of rhetoric, always, in this presidency.

“Underneath that, there is a good and close relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. I’m confident that will continue. We speak to one another all the time.

“But that doesn’t mean that we will always have to support every intervention and every action that the United States chooses to take.”

Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday did not heed calls from Mr Trump to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil trade route in the Middle East being blockaded by Iran.

Instead, Britain is currently mulling over the possibility of sending mine-hunting drones to the region amid worries of an Iranian build-up of explosives in the narrow sea passage.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Trump reiterated his call for allied assistance in the Straight of Hormuz, telling the paper: “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there.”

He also said Nato faces a “very bad” future should its member states fail to help, adding: “We’ll see if they help us. Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us.”

Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to help households with the cost of living amid the energy price spike caused by the war in the Middle East, after he appeared to resist Donald Trump’s calls to send warships to the region.

The Prime Minister will on Monday say that helping households with living costs is “my first priority” as he announces a subsidy for those who use heating oil to warm their homes, after they faced price spikes caused by the war.

The Prime Minister’s heating oil announcement on Monday comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Treasury officials have “found the money” to help the 1.5 million households relying on the fuel.

Heating oil is not protected by the energy price cap and its price per litre has doubled as a result of the stranglehold on oil leaving the Middle East since the US-Israeli war with Iran began.

Inside Downing Street, Sir Keir will say: “It’s moments like this that tell you what a Government is about.

“My answer is clear. Whatever challenges lie ahead, this Government will always support working people.

“That is my first instinct – my first priority – to help you with the cost of living through this crisis.”

The Prime Minister will also raise concerns about claims that suppliers of heating oil have cancelled orders and then jacked up prices.