American allies of President Donald Trump this week defended him to an Israeli public anxious about a US interim deal with Iran and White House criticism that together appeared to signal fissures in Israel’s decades-old alliance with Washington.

“The United States and Israel have an unbreakable bond,” Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said on Sunday after acknowledging there was an “enormous level of anxiety about the relationship.”

Donald Trump has said the British public “did not like” Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to be drawn into the war against Iran, as he again derided the outgoing prime minister as “not Winston Churchill”.

The president also repeated his claim that Sir Keir had “hurt himself very, very badly” over his stance on immigration and energy, while declaring him “a very nice man” and “sort of a friend of mine”.

Trump made his comments at the White House after Sir Keir quit as Labour leader, having acknowledged he had lost the support of his MPs, and with former Greater Manchester mayor and new MP Andy Burnham waiting in the wings.

Britain has more than enough electricity supply to meet demand through the winter months, despite households facing higher bills following the Iran war, according to the energy system operator.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) nonetheless cautioned over “tight days” during potential cold snaps this winter.

In its early winter outlook, the electricity system is forecast to have a surplus of 5.5 gigawatts between the end of October and the end of March next year.

This represents an 8.8 per cent buffer of peak winter demand, which is slightly below the margin forecast for 2025, but greater than the years before that.

Neso, which is a publicly-owned body, independent of government, is tasked with ensuring that the supply of electricity remains balanced with demand for it.

If supply cannot meet demand, then the country risks blackouts.

Neso said its modelling – which stress-tests thousands of scenarios based on electricity demand, weather conditions and generation – shows that Britain’s electricity system is expected to remain stable this winter.

Ship traffic has picked up in the Strait of Hormuz since Iran and the US signed an interim deal to end a war that constricted global oil supplies and fueled inflation, but questions surrounding control of the vital waterway and whether vessels will be charged tolls to cross it could interfere with negotiations to forge a lasting peace.

Tehran and Washington clashed over the Strait of Hormuz again this past weekend. Citing Israel’s latest attacks on Lebanon, Iran declared that it reclosed the strait.

The US was quick to contest that. Maritime tracking data showed that dozens of ships passed through on Saturday and Sunday, though far fewer than the daily average before the war.

Iran’s central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati has responded to Donald Trump’s claims that the released Iranian funds will be used to buy US produce.

Hemmati said Iran has “no obligation to buy” agricultural products from the US.

He told the Tasnim news agency that the agreement says the first $6bn can be used to buy “basic goods and medicine”.

However, he added that “if the price and quality of American inputs are more suitable compared to other countries, we have no obstacle to purchasing from that country.”

He said the $6bn could be used to purchase other non-sanctioned goods.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain this week as the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to end the war with Iran, while Gulf countries remain uneasy about a proposed deal.

The state department announced yesterday that Rubio would visit the three countries for bilateral meetings with leaders to discuss the memorandum of understanding reached last week between the US and Iran.

Rubio will discuss “regional priorities,” “efforts to secure full and free safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and the importance of peace and stability in the region,” the department said in a statement.

While in Bahrain, Rubio will also meet with Gulf Cooperation Council officials “to discuss shared priorities”.

The technical talks between Iran and the US in Switzerland have concluded, according to Iran’s state media.

Both nations will set up negotiating groups on nuclear power and sanctions, it said.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the agreement reached between Iran and the US during a telephone call with his Iranian counterpart and pledged Turkey’s continued support for the process to conclude peacefully.

A statement from the Turkish president’s office said that during his conversation with Masoud Pezeshkian, Erdogan also urged vigilance “against those who want to sabotage the negotiations”, in an apparent reference to Israel.

Turkish officials have constantly accused Israel of wanting to derail the negotiations.

Omani foreign minister Badr Albusaidi said discussions with Iranian officials in Muscat focused on ensuring “toll-free safe passage” through the Strait of Hormuz.

Albusaidi in a post on X said the discussions with Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi focused on the recent Iran-US memorandum of understanding, “especially the Strait of Hormuz paragraph”.

“We affirmed the commitment to international law and toll-free safe passage,” Albusaidi said.

US president Donald Trump had briefly warned he would blow up Oman if it failed to “behave”.