UK Chancellor of Exchequer Reeves hits out at 'folly' of US going to war without clear exit plan

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Reeves hits out at ‘folly’ of US going to war without clear exit plan

Chancellor ‘frustrated and angry’ at decision to attack Iran ‘without being clear what the objectives are’

Kiran Stacey Policy editor
Tue 14 Apr 2026 14.49 BST
Last modified on Tue 14 Apr 2026 15.02 BST

Rachel Reeves has hit out at the “folly” of Donald Trump’s decision to go to war against Iran without a clear exit plan.

Speaking to the Mirror before a trip to Washington for the International Monetary Fund spring meeting, the UK chancellor renewed her criticism of the war, which has pushed up oil prices and threatens a new jump in inflation across the west.

She was speaking after a turbulent few days in which the US and Iran abandoned peace talks in Islamabad without a deal and the US officially started a blockade of Iranian ports on the strait of Hormuz, through which Iranian oil ships have been passing in recent weeks.

Reeves said: “This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve. And as a result the strait of Hormuz is now blocked.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/14/rachel-reeves-folly-us-going-to-war-iran-without-clear-exit-plan

[bucolic_frolic]

1. A war without goals. That's what he means. Trump spent many billions and killed soldiers

and foreign citizens alike, without knowing "what they were trying to achieve."

[VMA131Marine]

2. Rachel Reeves is a "she."