Donald Trump has been accused of backtracking and contradicting his own statements regarding the war in Iran.

Speaking at a press conference later yesterday, Trump slammed the UK for its response to the war, calling it ‘very disappointing’.

Trump has also asked France, China, Japan, South Korea and Britain to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

But the President’s own remarks have seemed to contradict himself, telling reporters: ‘Really, I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory – because it is their territory.’

Less than an hour later, he said: ‘They should come, and they should help us protect it. You could make the case that maybe we shouldn’t even be there at all, because we don’t need it.

‘We have a lot of oil. We’re the number one producer anywhere in the world times two.’

Seemingly referencing NATO, Trump added, ‘If we need help, they won’t be there for us. I’ve known that for a long period of time.’

Again, moments later, he said: ‘We have some who are enthusiastic. They’re coming.’

Speaking to reporters, Trump also said ‘we want them to come and help us with the Strait (of Hormuz)’.

Later, he clarified: ‘My attitude is we don’t need anybody. We have the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far – we don’t need them.’

Varying lengths of the Iran War

At the beginning of the war, Trump said he thought the strikes in Iran would be ‘four weeks or so’.

Days later, he said the war was ‘very complete, pretty much’ – before, on the same day, saying the war wouldn’t end that week, but would ‘very soon’.

On why the US attacked Iran

In an address made shortly after attacks began, Trump said: ‘Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.

‘They can never have a nuclear weapon. That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime’s nuclear program — at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — after that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons.’

Days later, Trump said he ‘knew Iran was going to attack’, claiming that if the US didn’t fight, Iran would attack first.

The strike at an Iranian girl’s school

After a strike on an Iranian school killed 175 children in late February, there was confusion as to whether Iran, the US or Israel was behind it.

US Central Command has acknowledged using Tomahawk missiles in this war and even released a photo of the USS Spruance, part of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group located within range of the school, firing a Tomahawk missile on February 28.

When asked by a reporter whether the US was responsible for the blast, which killed mostly children, Trump responded, without providing evidence: ‘No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.’

He added: ‘I will certainly, whatever the report shows, be willing to live with that report.’

After a report found that the US struck the school, Trump said: ‘I don’t know about it.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Iranian defence chief who issued sinister warning to Trump is killed in airstrike

MORE: Woman who wrote book on grief after husband’s death is guilty of murdering him

MORE: Ayatollah Khamenei escaped certain death by seconds because ‘he had to do something in his garden’

While tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate, it remains business as usual in Turkey’s main tourist hubs.

With historic cities and spectacular coastlines, the West Asian country remains one of the most popular holiday destinations for European travellers.

In 2025, it welcomed 63.4 million visitors, with Russia, Germany and the UK the top markets for inbound travel.

But as geopolitical tensions flare across the region, and given Turkey’s eastern land border with Iran, some may be reconsidering trips to the country during the busy Easter and summer seasons.

If you’re still weighing up plans, here’s everything you should know.

Is it safe to travel to Turkey? Latest FCDO advice

The Foreign Office continues to advise against ‘all travel to parts of Turkey’. This specifically refers to travel within 10km of the border between Turkey and Syria, in light of the terrorism risk.

As is stands, there is no travel warning for popular holiday destinations such as Istanbul, Cappadocia and Antalya.

For other parts of the country, the Foreign Office last updated its travel guidance on March 1, when it changed its advice on entering across the land border from Iran.

This means British nationals are required to request support from the British Embassy in Ankara before travelling to the border.

The guidance continued: ‘If you intend to leave Iran overland, you do so at your own risk.

‘In Iran, holding a British passport or having perceived connections to the UK can be reason enough for the Iranian authorities to detain you.’

Have flights to Turkey been cancelled?

Flights from European cities to major Turkish airports, including Istanbul’s two main commercial airports and Antalya Airport, continue to operate on schedule.

Flag carrier Turkish Airlines has only cancelled services to select locations across the Middle East and the Gulf.

British Airways, AJet, and Pegasus all run daily routes from London to Istanbul.

British Airways said it is closely monitoring the situation, and that it’s cancelled a ‘number’ of flights to the Middle East.

‘Safety is always our top priority and we would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so,’ the guidance, posted on the BA website, reads.

BA gave passengers flying between Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv before March 15 the option to change their flight, free of charge, until March 29.

How close is Turkey to Iran?

Turkey and Iran are connected by land, and Tehran and Istanbul are between 2,000 and 2,050 kilometres away from one another by air.

The border between the two countries stretches for around 300 miles.

According to Alaraybiya English, day-trip crossings at the border between Turkey and Iran have been halted at all three customs gates.

However, Turkey’s trade minister, Omer Bolat, said Iran is allowing its own citizens to enter Iran via Turkey, and Turkey is allowing its own citizens to come back to Turkey from Iran.

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and its major tourism gateway, lies in the northwest of the country, thousands of kilometres from areas currently experiencing tensions.

The Turkish Riviera – which includes well-known holiday resorts such as Antalya, Bodrum and Marmaris – is located along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts in the southwest.

What if I don’t want to travel to Turkey?

If you already have a holiday booked to Turkey and you choose not to travel, you won’t be eligible for a refund, because the Foreign Office has not explicitly advised against travelling there.

However, you should keep an eye on the Foreign Office guidance to monitor the situation.

If they do advise against travel, contact your tour operator, travel insurance provider or airline, who will be able to provide further assistance.

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

MORE: ‘Chinese Nostradamus’ predicted Trump election and Iran war — now he’s made a bold new claim

MORE: How petrol prices have surged since start of Iran war – will they keep rising?

MORE: ‘Barebeater’ removed from flight after major airlines crack down on infuriating travel habit

A former senior aide to Donald Trump has told Metro that the President is in a ‘vulnerable position’ with his war in Iran – and doesn’t know how to get out of it.

Since the US launched joint strikes in Iran with Israel more than two weeks ago, the oil industry has been thrown into chaos, neighbouring countries have been struck with missiles, and 13 US soldiers have been killed.

At the time, Trump said his reasons for the strikes on February 28 were he believed Iran was going to attack the US first – something that his own officials have since told Congress that there was no intelligence suggesting this.

Trump also said he hoped to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, something Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has also said, adding: ‘We didn’t start this war… but under President Trump, we’re finishing it.’

When the conflict began, only 41% of Americans approved of the intervention – far lower than support for any other US conflict in decades.

Now, John Robert Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, told Metro that there is a strong case for regime change in Iran, but Trump hasn’t made this clear to the American public – something which could come back to haunt him.

He said: ‘You’ve always got to be prudent, but when a country is seeking weapons of mass destruction—chemical, biological, or nuclear—and engaging in international terrorism while repressing its own people, it is a problem,’ he warned.

‘If you wait too long to deal with it, as we did with North Korea, it becomes a bigger problem. It goes to what Churchill said regarding appeasement: “This just confirms the unteachability of mankind.”

‘You go through this over and over again; you don’t strike when it’s easy, you wait until it’s too late, and then you pay the price.’

Trump’s biggest mistake in Iran

Having served under Trump for two years in his first administration, former US ambassador to the United Nations Bolton said the President needed to convince America why going after Iran would be to their benefit – but so far, he hasn’t.

‘Trump didn’t make it clear to the public, to Congress, or to the Allies. It’s not too late, but it’s getting close,’ he said.

‘By failing to make the case, he has put himself in a vulnerable position. He knows he’s in a difficult place, and he doesn’t know how to get out of it,’ Bolton added.

This is a ‘war of choice’

Ambassador Bolton told Metro that while Iran was not considered an ‘imminent threat’, its nuclear programme was getting ‘too close for comfort’.

‘People say this is a “war of choice.” It is. It’s a preventive war to prevent the need to do something else in much more dangerous circumstances,’ he explained.

Referring to the US’ Iraq War in 2003, he added: ‘By the late 1990s, Saddam didn’t have centrifuges spinning, but he had kept together approximately 3,000 scientists and technicians who could rebuild the program.

‘That was the point: they have the knowledge. Iran may not have centrifuges spinning today, but they know how to put them back together.’

When a country is ‘seeking weapons of mass destruction and engaging in international terrorism while suppressing its own people’, it’s a problem, he added.

‘The lesson to us is: don’t be so patient. If a proliferator has enough patience and gets nuclear weapons, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to take its program out without grave risk,’ Bolton said.

‘If the US had attacked Iran 20 years ago, it would have spared the region ‘a lot of pain and suffering’.

Trump needs to work with the opposition in Iran

The opposition movement in Iran is extremely widespread, but not organised, Ambassador Bolton points out.

Still, working with dissidents inside the country could prove vital for Trump’s goals of regime change in the country.

‘Dissatisfaction with the regime has never been higher. It is weaker than at any point since it took power in 1979,’ Ambassador Bolton argued.

‘People age 30 and under—who make up two-thirds of the population—know they could have a different life. They can see it across the Gulf; they can see it on the internet when the government lets the internet operate.’

After the 2022 murder of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman in Iran who was beaten and killed by police because she refused to wear the hijab, anti-government protests surged.

The murder of Amini prompted the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement, which Bolton said is significant, because: ‘Once you challenge the Ayatollahs’ legitimacy, in effect, you are challenging the state.’ 

Knock-on effects cripple the Middle East

Gulf states are still suffering from missile and drone attacks after Tehran threatened to widen its campaign as the war in the Middle East entered its third week.

Iranian strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf states, most of them migrant workers.

Yesterday, President Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbours during the war, but it has said it was targeting US assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.

As global anxiety soars over oil prices and supplies, Trump said on Saturday that he hopes China, France, Japan, the UK, South Korea and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz ‘open and safe’.

But Iran’s joint military command has reiterated its threat to attack US-linked ‘oil, economic and energy infrastructures’ in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is hit.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: First pictures of the US soldiers killed in Iraq military plane crash

MORE: Iran says the Ayatollah is alive after Trump suggested he died

MORE: Dubai influencers say people who are fleeing city during Iran War are ‘ungrateful’

President Trump warned that Iran would be ‘hit very hard’ on Saturday as the US forces’ “Operation Epic Fury” enters its second week.

“Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump deemed that the Iranian regime was no longer the “Bully of the Middle East” after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for attacking its Gulf neighbors.

“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack,” Trump said.

“They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East. It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries. They have said, ‘Thank you President Trump.’ I have said, ‘You’re welcome!’”

In a pre-recorded message shared on Saturday, Pezeshkian apologized for the blitz of retaliatory attacks that struck Iran’s neighboring countries following the joint US-Israel attack.

The 71-year-old claimed Iran had the right to “take all necessary measures” to defend itself, but said Iran would stop attacking its neighbors as long as they didn’t launch strikes back.

Trump vowed Friday that there would be no peace until Iran’s “unconditional surrender.”

However, Pezeshkian seemingly responded to Trump’s demand.

“That’s a dream that they should take to their grave,” he said during his address.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.