Rachel Reeves and Scott Bessent argued in person about Iran war, sources say

Rachel Reeves had an angry exchange with her US counterpart, Scott Bessent, in Washington last month over the war in Iran, sources have said, in the latest sign of the deepening tensions between the two countries. The chancellor and the US treasury secretary argued in person during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund, according to people briefed on the exchange, confirming a story first reported by the Financial Times. The row centred on Reeves’ criticisms over the Iran conflict, which she made in public before the meetings began, triggering an angry backlash from some in the Trump administration. Criticisms by Reeves and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, have caused the biggest rift in US-UK relations for decades, with the US president, Donald Trump, threatening to rip up a trade deal and to recognise Argentina’s claims to the Falkland Islands in response. Reeves told the Mirror on 14 April she felt “very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan”, calling the war a “folly”. She then travelled to the US, where she told CNBC the goals of the war had “never been clear”. “I’m not convinced this conflict has made the world a safer place,” Reeves told a panel organised by the US broadcaster. …