| Unlock all of our journalism for less than 50p per week, only in our Spring Sale. | | His Majesty would have ‘taken a very different stand’ from Starmer on Iran, insists US president in exclusive interview with The Telegraph |  | Connor Stringer Chief Washington Correspondent | Donald Trump believes the King would have stood by him over his war in Iran, the US president told me.
His allies have turned on him and global markets have crashed since he launched the first strikes on Feb 28.
With the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil travels daily, firmly choked off by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and a war dragging into its fifth week, Trump is keen for a friend to take his side.
During our phone call, he said he thought King Charles “would have taken a very different stand” on the conflict. Different to whom, he did not clarify.
However, comments will be seen as a veiled criticism of Sir Keir Starmer, who, along with other European leaders, has angered Trump by rejecting calls to join the war.
The best time to call the president seems to be late in the evening or after a round of golf, when he’s happy. Unfortunately, with it being the middle of the working week, he wasn’t on the golf course, so I called him at around 10.30pm and he answered on the second ring, just as he did the first time I called him for an interview.
Last night, Trump urged Europe to “grab and cherish” Hormuz and “build up delayed courage”.
Addressing the nation in his first primetime live address since the first bombs rained down on Tehran, the US president said the bloc should “take the lead” in reopening the global shopping route. “Go to the Strait and just take it,” he insisted.
“We are going to finish the job and we’re going to finish it very fast, we’re getting very close,” Trump said.
“Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home,” he added, calling it a “short-term increase” caused by Tehran threatening commercial oil tankers.
There were no strong words for Nato in the address, after Trump told The Telegraph he was considering pulling the US out of the alliance. Nevertheless, Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general, will fly to Washington next week for talks with the US president.
Continue reading ➤
Go deeper with our Iran coverage:
Trump can’t find anything new to say on Iran. And time is running out ➤
Trump tells Europe: Grab and cherish the Strait of Hormuz ➤
Nato chief will fly to US for Trump talks ➤ |  | Poppy Wood Education Editor | Britain’s top private schools in the Middle East have been teaching how men should beat their wives, The Telegraph can reveal.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has imposed increasingly strict rules on schools in recent years, meaning all pupils must receive morality lessons drawn up by the state.
The rules, which apply to international private schools in the region, also mean Muslim students must be taught Islamic education.
Textbooks unearthed by The Telegraph reveal that, despite the quintessential Britishness they peddle, these schools have been required to teach Muslim pupils how to deal with “rebellious wives”.
“First: good counselling”, “second: refusing bed-sharing”, and “third stage: beating lightly”, says one textbook for Muslim pupils.
Mandatory morality lessons in the UAE mean pupils at leading British private schools in the region are being fed propaganda about the greatness of the ruling Emirati, including how the country “empowers women” and “ranks first in terms of peaceful co-existence”.  | The schools have kept this quiet as they expand abroad at pace to make more money. A legal loophole means British private schools can send the profit they make abroad back to the UK tax-free as Gift Aid, and Telegraph analysis shows they have funnelled almost £79m this way over the past two years.
The revelations will place the crème de la crème of British education in an awkward position, as details also trickle out of the UAE about the country’s crackdown on expats filming recent missile strikes.
Harrow School – one of the jewels in the crown of the UK private school system – is set to open two new schools in the UAE this summer.
Read the full story here ➤ | | Roland Oliphant If Trump follows through on his threat to pull out of the alliance, the West will face its most profound crisis in 80 years Continue reading ➤ Allister Heath Starmer’s catastrophic miscalculation is turning Britain into a laughing stock Continue reading ➤ Kate Maltby It’s a misogynistic lie that Elizabeth I was trans Continue reading ➤ | | To make sure you don’t miss our newsletters when they land in your inbox, click here. | | The Trump administration and the AI company Anthropic have been locked in a bruising public row about the technology’s limits on the battlefield. The spat is just one chapter in a wider conflict over what many believe will be the defining technology of this century. I spoke to the people on both sides of the fight for the control of AI, writes James Titcomb, Technology Editor. Continue reading ➤ | | | Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley all gave evidence | | Some 55 witnesses traipsed into the witness box at the High Court over the last 11 weeks, writes Victoria Ward, Deputy Royal Editor. Allegations ranged from death threats, burglaries, bugging, phone hacking and claims of witnesses who were too terrified of reprisals to give evidence in person. I sat through the whole saga of this astounding privacy claim against Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. For subscribers only ➤ | |  | | As business rate rises imposed by Rachel Reeves begin to take effect across Britain, Abigail Buchanan speaks to shop owners in Haslemere’s Wey Hill, in Surrey, one of the worst-affected areas in the country. Here, the rateable values of premises are rising by an average of 82 per cent, leading to bill increases of thousands of pounds. Small stores are a cornerstone of our society, but shop owners are warning that they will soon cease to exist. Continue reading ➤ | | | For many, Queen Elizabeth could do no wrong, but some have begun to take a more critical view of her reign | | As brands peddle £110 commemorative tat ahead of Elizabeth II’s centenary, a far more uncomfortable trend is emerging, writes Sophia Money-Coutts. From royal biographer Andrew Lownie branding the late monarch “completely gaga”, to allegations over £12m in hush money for the former Duke of York, why has censuring the late Queen suddenly become acceptable? Continue reading ➤ | | | Our gardens are coming back to life, but there is still danger of frost, says expert Tom Brown in his explainer about garden jobs you need to do in April. Along with tips on pruning hydrangeas and dividing perennials, Tom outlines which bulbs you should be choosing and how to plant them. He will be in the comments from 3pm to respond to your questions and queries. Continue reading ➤ Below are a couple more helpful articles for you this morning: - In Britain, we have some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes for a walk. It’s one of our nation’s favourite active pastimes, so here is what makes the perfect country stroll – and 10 of Britain’s best.
- The new tax year is nearly here, but you still have time to minimise how much you hand over to the taxman. We outline five things you can do now to shield potentially thousands from HMRC.
| | We have lift off! Artemis II departs from the Kennedy Space Center |  | Sarah Knapton Science Editor | Covering Nasa launches from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral is always a surreal experience.
The Launch Complex 39 press site, which sits just across the car park from the vast Vehicle Assembly Building, has been the gathering point for journalists since Apollo 8 in 1968.
The Society of Professional Journalists designated it a historic site for journalism and placed a plaque there in 1975, to commemorate the 3,493 ‘newsmen’ who turned up for the launch of Apollo 11.
These days, numbers have dwindled somewhat, but a launch like Artemis II still attracts hundreds of journalists from all over the world.
There are reminders of past missions everywhere, and astronauts from both Nasa and the European Space Agency regularly mill about. The huge countdown clock, which features on the live news feeds of most launches, can be seen on a patch of grass overlooking the launchpad.
It is tradition for the astronauts to drive past the press site on their way to the launchpad, and in former days they would choose one journalist to bring along for the ride and drop off on the way. | Sarah Knapton, our Science Editor, in Cape Canaveral | However, Nasa is not the only show in town, a fact that became apparent during a news conference on Saturday when the press auditorium began to shake violently and a deafening roar brought proceedings to a shuddering halt.
The speakers looked baffled for a few moments, until one of the journalists pointed out that SpaceX was launching its latest round of Starlink satellites nearby.
The Kennedy Space Center is based on Merritt Island which is a nature reserve and so the press area is often teeming with wildlife.
Endangered sea turtles in particular regularly wander on site, but bald eagle nests are also a common occurrence, and wild pigs and alligators roam freely nearby. I once had to warn a glamorous Spanish reporter, who was doing a live from a nearby lake, that a pair of eyes from beneath the water were edging increasingly close.
Add in the extremely long hours of a launch day – for the Artemis II launch I worked 18 hours straight – and it is no wonder that the whole experience starts to feel otherworldly.
However, there are few experiences like the sheer roar and rumble of a rocket taking off and viewing it from the birthplace of Apollo is a real treat. Who knows, maybe one day we will cover the first trip to Mars from the same historic spot.
Watch the moment Nasa Artemis II launches here ➤
Plus, Nasa vows America will never give up the Moon after first launch in 53 years ➤ | Man’s best friend? Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
I’d like to be a dog person, able to take it in my stride, perhaps even chuckle indulgently, when a perky spaniel comes speeding up to me. I fear it’s too late, though: years of cat ownership have conditioned me to expect a certain lordly reserve from my pets. Despite my best efforts, I still feel a twinge of awkwardness when faced with that particular brand of panting, bounding canine eagerness.
However, that’s nothing compared with Noah Gabriel Martin, who has a full-blown aversion to dogs – and is struggling on the dating scene as a result. “Potential love matches regularly specify on app profiles that they’re looking for ‘dog lovers only’,” he reveals.
I would describe Telegraph readers as broadly pro-dog, but many were sympathetic. “Even as a dog owner,” wrote one, “I can’t stand people who are obsessed with their pets, treating them as humans and taking them everywhere. Ours is treated well – but as a dog.”
Dom Franklin took a similar line: “I like some dogs and not others. I’d be happy to have one as a pet. What I don’t like is when dogs are put before humans. I once had a long train journey to meet up with an old friend. Alas, when I arrived, he left me sitting on a park bench so he could go and pet someone’s dog and talk to its owners. Twenty minutes later, he came back and managed to talk to me, but his eyes were always on the horizon in case he spied another dog.”
There were sterner words for Noah, however, from a reader going by the name of KA: “I find it sad when people don’t appreciate other species. Dogs are wonderful companions, more loyal and loving than most humans.”
Finally, I enjoyed this vignette of modern life, courtesy of Simon Watt: “Last week in Eastbourne, I was sitting at a table outside a seaside restaurant in beautiful sunny weather. Sitting at the next table was an attractive young couple, facing each other. She had a dog on her lap, which she was cuddling and kissing. He was engrossed with his mobile. How long will that relationship last?” Should a dislike of dogs preclude a date? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was ACTUATION. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | |
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