Yvette Cooper has described Donald Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilisation earlier this week as “completely wrong”.

Trump’s language about Iran became increasingly aggressive and barbaric ahead of the ceasefire, culminating with a Truth Social post on Tuesday saying “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran did not comply with US demands.

While some opposition politicians, and backbench Labour MPs, denounced the president language very strongly, No 10 did not respond.

But, speaking to Sky News this morning, Cooper did condemn Trump’s comments. She said:

We take a different view from the US on issues, and it is possible for us to be strong, close partners on a whole range of issues, but also to take different decisions on issues.

I think that the rhetoric that we’ve seen used, I think, has been completely wrong. I think that sort of escalatory rhetoric can have escalatory consequences.

Cooper also said that it was important to distinguish between the oppressive Iranian regime and the Iranian people as a whole.

More significantly, we should always distinguish between this malign Iranian regime that we have seen threaten its neighbours over a long time, and the people of Iran, many of whom have been brutally repressed by this Iranian regime.

Keir Starmer met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, yesterday. Unlike, say, Donald Trump, MBS (as he is sometimes called) is not a man for press conferences. But No 10 did release a readout of the talks afterwards. It says Starmer declared Saudi Arabia to be a “steadfast ally”.

For the record, here is the full readout. A No 10 spokesperson said:

The prime minister began by welcoming the ceasefire and set out how efforts must now be focused on upholding it and turning it into a lasting peace.

He was clear that it was vital now to continue work to reopen the strait of Hormuz, and discussed the UK’s ongoing efforts to convene partners to agree and plan the practical steps required to give shipping the confidence to transit the strait.

Reflecting on the defensive operations which have taken place in the region since the conflict began, the prime minister thanked His Royal Highness for Saudi Arabia’s efforts to protect British nationals in the country.

The prime minister committed to continue to support Saudi Arabia as a steadfast ally including through the recent deployment of the Sky Sabre air defence system, having met UK personnel deployed to operate it earlier today.

The leaders then discussed how the UK and Saudi Arabia could further deepen their defence industrial cooperation to boost capability and mutual security for the long term, as well as continuing to grow their thriving trade and investment relationship.

The prime minister said he was pleased that the UK and Saudi Arabia would soon be marking 100 years of friendship under the Treaty of Jeddah and they looked forward to speaking again soon.

Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, told Sky News this morning that she was “deeply troubled” by Israel’s ongoing air strikes in Lebanon. She said:

I’m deeply troubled about the escalating attacks that we saw from Israel in Lebanon yesterday. We’ve seen the humanitarian consequences, the huge mass displacement of people in Lebanon.

Good morning. Keir Starmer is still in the Gulf, and Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has been doing a round of interviews this morning, ahead of delivering a speech on foreign policy this evening.

As Jamie Grierson reports, Cooper has been arguing forcefully that Lebanon must be included in the US-Iran ceasefire.

But Cooper is also trying to quash suggestions that, as part of a permanent settlement, Iran might be allowed to carry on charging a $2m-a-ship toll for oil tankers wanting to pass through the strait of Hormuz. Rather alarminingly, Donald Trump has even suggested that the US might be part of this, as a “joint venture” with Iran.

In an interview on the Today programme, Cooper made it clear that charging a toll for passage through the strait would be unaccepable to the UK.

She said:

The starting point here is this is an international transit route. It’s international shipping that uses this. This is part of the international law of the sea. This is a a route between the high seas; it is a trading route.

When it was put to her that Iran takes the view that these are territorial waters, not international waters, Cooper said:

As part of the international maritime law, this is a transit route between the high seas.

And whether you talk about Dover or Gibraltar or other straits around the world, there may be territorial waters there, but there’s also an international shipping route and an international transit route, which means that freedom of navigation principles apply and that countries cannot simply hijack those kinds of international transit routes and unilaterally apply tolls. They cannot do that as part of the laws of the sea and the United Nations conventions.

Cooper said that protecting freedom of navigation throught the strait was “crucial for the global economy”.

I will post more from her interviews soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Keir Starmer is in the United Arab Emirates where he is expected to hold talks with the president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Later in the day he has another bilateral planned, and he is recording an interview with ITV’s Robert Peston.

10.30am: Zack Polanski, the Green leader, launches his party’s local elections campaign at an event in London.

11am: Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader, launches his party’s manifesto for the Senedd election at an event in Wrexham.

Morning: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is doing a campaign visit in Greater Manchester.

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