Irish premier tells Donald Trump he can work with European leaders on Iran

Irish premier Micheal Martin has said Donald Trump and European leaders can work together to resolve differences in relation to the war with Iran.

It comes amid frictions between European leaders and Mr Trump after he said he expected Europe’s co-operation on a bombing campaign launched with Israel against Iran.

The US president hosted the Taoiseach in the White House on St Patrick’s Day, the culmination of days of US-Irish engagements organised each year to mark Ireland’s national day.

The 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office involved Mr Trump responding to Irish president Catherine Connolly’s criticism of US-Israeli attacks on Iran by saying the world “should be thankful” for the intervention.

He also doubled down on his previous criticisms of Nato and accused British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of making a “big mistake” on Iran.

Mr Martin defended Sir Keir by telling Mr Trump he “had the capacity” to engage with the British leader and other European leaders.

He said the relationship between Europe and the US is “very, very important”, and previous issues between the EU and the US last year, where the threat of a tariff war loomed for months, had been resolved.

“I think we can get landing zone again,” Mr Martin said.

“Keir Starmer has done a lot to reset the Irish-British relationship, I just want to put that on the record.

“But I do believe that he’s a very earnest, sound person (which) you have a capacity to get on with, you’ve got on with him before.

“You’ve got on with other European leaders as well and I think you have that capacity again.”

He said Mr Trump was “doing your bit there in terms of work in Gaza” to find peace in the Middle East, and said that the Irish people had been “peacekeepers all our lives”.

“Ultimately, all conflicts come to an end, and I think we have to try and work towards that end. I’m sure European leaders and the US administration will engage, and hopefully we can get a landing zone.”

Mr Trump responded to say he agreed with Mr Martin but said that as the US had helped Europe fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he thought that Europe would assist the US in relation to Iran.

“It’s very unfair to the United States,” he said.

When asked to respond to comments by Irish president Catherine Connolly – who criticised “deliberate assaults on international law” in the Middle East and “the normalisation of war” – Mr Trump said: “He’s lucky I exist, that’s all I can say. (sic)

“Because if you’re going to allow countries that are sick and demented – and they are demented – to have nuclear weapons, everybody in the whole world should be very thankful.”

He also said that if the US-Israeli attack was not launched on Iran, “you would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond”.

“I think it would have hit Europe, maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe. It all gets you, it’s big enough that you would have been affected.”

Mr Trump also pledged to Irish people that energy prices would “drop like a rock” when the war ended; and that he would try to visit Ireland in the autumn for the Irish Open, which will be hosted at his hotel and golf course in Doonbeg, Co Clare.

Mr Martin, who spoke only briefly during the White House meeting as the engagement was dominated by questions to the US president in relation to Iran, also urged co-operation between Ireland and the US on immigration.

After Mr Trump said Europe had to “do something on immigration”, Mr Martin later said that “sometimes Europe gets characterised wrongly” for being “overrun” and said there was “much more stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration”.

“I’d love if we could develop a legal pathway between the US and Ireland into the future, because of our history,” Mr Martin said of a US-Irish immigration system.

Earlier, Mr Martin met US vice president JD Vance on St Patrick’s Day as part of the leader of Ireland’s traditional visit to Washington, DC.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill have boycotted the St Patrick’s Day events in the US over that administration’s policies on Gaza.

Later on Tuesday, the Taoiseach was attending the Friends of Ireland Luncheon at the US Capitol, ahead of his presentation of a bowl of shamrock to the US president back at the White House.

On Monday evening, the Taoiseach addressed the prestigious Ireland Funds National Gala dinner in the US capital.

He spent the weekend in Philadelphia where he marked the contribution of Irish people to the building of the country, 250 years on from the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

He also took part in the Pennsylvanian city’s St Patrick’s Day parade.