Rather than pretending that we can simply replace all U.S. capabilities, we should focus on diversifying and reducing certain dependencies.

We should deliver generational investments, moving from overdependence to interdependence.

I say to all NATO members, our commitment to Article 5 is as profound now as ever.

And be in no doubt, if called on, the UK would come to your aid today.

Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia’s—by more than ten times over. We have enormous defense capabilities. Yet too often, this adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Europe has more than 20 types of frigates and around 10 types of fighter jets. We have over 10 types of main battle tanks. Meanwhile, the U.S. has one.

It is wildly inefficient.

Today, I can announce that the UK will deploy our Carrier Strike Group to the North Atlantic and the High North this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales.

It will operate alongside the United States, Canada, and other NATO allies, in a powerful demonstration of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security.

We are enhancing our nuclear cooperation with France.

For decades, the United Kingdom has been the only nuclear power in Europe to commit its deterrent to the protection of all NATO members.

But now, any adversary must know that in a crisis they could be confronted by our combined strength.

Deeper economic integration is in all our interests.

So we must consider where we could move closer to the single market in other sectors as well, where that would work for both sides.

There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been damaged by Russian attacks.

Not one.

When the Iranian regime first gave Russia the Shahed drones, they were simple weapons. They could be shut down easily.

Now the Shahed is different. It has a jet engine. It can fly at different altitudes. It can be guided by an operator in real time and it can use Starlink to reach its target.

It can even carry other drones, acting as mothership for FPVs.

Ukraine does not share a border with Iran, and we have never had a conflict of interest with the Iranian regime.

But the Iranian Shahed drones they sold to Russia are killing, especially our people, Ukrainians, and destroying our infrastructure.

The Iranian regime has already done, and can still do, more harm than many other regimes could in a century.

And yet, this regime still exists, and it hopes to survive everything—even this crisis.

Today, the people of Iran expect from the world what we in Ukraine needed on February 24th, when the Russian invasion began: unity, determination, and speed—of course, speed.

Regimes like the one in Iran must not be given time. When they have time, they only kill more.

They must be stopped immediately, and this is exactly what should have happened with the Ayatollah after all the wars his regime unleashed and all the lives it took.

We will reach the point where we produce enough interceptors to make Shahed (Geran-2) drones meaningless for Russia.

There is no country in Europe that could rely only on its own technology and money to defend itself.

Putin still has guarantees of financial stability. A large part of those guarantees lies here in Europe.

Russian oil tankers still move freely along Europe’s shores, in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean. Overall, Russia still uses more than a thousand tankers.

I recently discussed this with President Macron, with President von der Leyen, and with other leaders, and I thank them for their willingness to fix this. We spoke about it in detail.

It is important to block this entire fleet, all these tankers, and to have them confiscated, the same way the United States acts against shadow fleet tankers near its own shores.