Nigel Farage has suggested Iran “potentially poses a bigger danger than Putin poses to us”, despite Russia having nuclear weapons and invading Ukraine.

The Reform UK leader made the remarks in an interview with the New Statesman, which are likely to fuel further questions about his stance on Russia.

Farage supported America’s war on Iran from the start saying the “gloves need to come off” when dealing with Iran, and that “we should do all we can to support the operation”.

But on Tuesday, he was accused of a U-turn after saying: “If we can’t even defend Cyprus, let’s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.”

His separate interview with the New Statesman was given as he visited Florida at the weekend where he met members of the Donald Trump administration but failed in his attempt at a meeting with the president himself.

Asked about what has changed since he opposed the Iraq war and the 2011 strikes on Libya, he said: “Iran’s a genuine threat to the world … Iran potentially poses a bigger danger than Putin poses to us. I do feel this is different.”

He added: “If the result of this is that it stops Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, it would have been worth it.”

Farage has long been criticised by Labour and the Conservatives for his stance on Russia, having in the past spoken of his admiration for Putin as a political operator and repeatedly warning the west against “poking the Russian bear with a stick”, accusing the EU of provoking the war in Ukraine in 2024.

After criticism, he wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was “immoral, outrageous and indefensible” but added: “[I]f you have neither the means nor the political will to face him down, poking a bear is obviously not good foreign policy.”

He was also accused by Labour of “parroting” Kremlin lines after saying he would oppose any move to put UK troops in Ukraine as a part of a peacekeeping force after the end of hostilities.

In relation to Iran, Farage said he was “reasonably optimistic” and his message to the Trump administration was to “stick firm” on the military base at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and that Reform would have a “very different approach” to defence.

He said that his White House contacts tell him that in “military terms, their respect for us is now down to just special forces – there’s nothing else left”.

Farage also told the New Statesman that he had offered to be a back channel for communication with the White House but that Keir Starmer had not replied.

He said he had told Starmer: “I know a lot of this administration, I am on text exchanges with cabinet members [and] if you need my help in any way at all, I will do it. I will do it under the radar. Nobody will ever know.”

Previous attempts by Farage to persuade the former Conservative government to let him act as a back channel to the last Trump administration also ended in failure.