Leaked Pentagon email shows brutal way US could punish UK for not joining Iran war

A leaked Pentagon email shows that the US is considering punishing the UK and other countries for not joining them in their war against Iran.

While the US is currently in a ceasefire with Iran as negotiations over a potential end to the war are held, the situation is still very dangerous and hasn't been helped by US President Donald Trump issuing a 'shoot and kill' order on boats mining the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most important oil shipping channels.

Trump has been particularly vocal over what he claims is a lack of support from NATO allies, despite that being a defensive alliance and the US being the aggressors in the war against Iran.

Other countries have not been eager to throw themselves into Trump's costly conflict, and Reuters reports that the US is drawing up plans for potential retaliation for countries not helping, as a leaked email said that giving the Americans access, basing and overflight rights was 'just the absolute baseline for NATO'.

Take the UK, for instance, which has stayed out of the war and is only allowing the US access to their bases for defensive strikes, leading Trump to get very upset at Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not charging into a conflict in the Middle East.

A leaked email from the Pentagon says the US is considering punishing countries for not joining their war in Iran (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

What does the leaked email say about the UK?

The leaked email says that because the UK hasn't joined the US in their war, the US could review their position on Britain's claim to the Falklands.

A British Overseas Territory with a population that overwhelmingly wishes to remain so, the Falklands were invaded and occupied by Argentina in 1982 leading to war between the UK and the Southern American country, which ended after two months with a British victory.

Argentina still claims the Falklands as theirs, regardless of the wishes of the people living there, and their current president Javier Milei is a Trump ally.

The leaked email says the US might reassess diplomatic support for European 'imperial possessions', including the Falklands, which would be pretty terrible for the UK-US alliance.

One of the ways the US might try and harm the UK is reassessing diplomatic support for the Falkland Islands (Getty Stock Photo)

Elsewhere in the email is the option to suspend Spain from NATO with the goal of 'decreasing the sense of entitlement on the part of the Europeans', since Spain have been one of the more vocal opponents of US military action.

This is not something that the US can do unilaterally, there isn't a mechanism in the treaties which bind NATO together that says the US president can just decide to suspend a member of the alliance.

In the leaked email, it suggests the US might also try and block figures from countries it wishes to punish from important positions within the alliance.

Trump has previously suggested he might even pull the US out of NATO, though the Americans get much from the alliance including access to bases all over the world which they may not maintain if they start acting against allies.

Donald Trumps wants the US' allies to 'do their part' (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

The War Department wants allies to 'do their part'

Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told Reuters: "As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us.

"The War Department will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part.

"We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect."

The LADbible Group have contacted the Pentagon for comment.