British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has blocked a request by US President Donald Trump to allow US forces to use British air bases during any pre-emptive strike on Iran.
According to CNNi, the rejection was because using the bases could violate international law, according to multiple British media reports citing government sources.
According to The Times of London, which first reported the dispute over access to the air bases, Starmer denied using RAF Fairford in England and Diego Garcia – the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean – for any attack on Iran.
The two bases have long served as critical US hubs for long-range military operations, with Diego Garcia serving as a key airfield for the US heavy bomber fleet.
The Times reports that Britain is concerned that allowing the US to use the bases “would be a breach of international law, which does not distinguish between a state that carries out the attack and those that support it if the latter have ‘knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally illegal act'”.
The Times cited UK government sources. The BBC, the Guardian and the Telegraph also subsequently published their own reports about the UK blocking access to the bases, citing sources.
The UK Ministry of Defense declined to comment on what it described as “operational issues. “There is a political process underway between the US and Iran, which the UK supports. Iran must never be able to develop nuclear weapons and our priority is security in the region,” a government spokesman said.
US requests to use British bases for operational purposes have historically been considered on a case-by-case basis, with precise criteria not met for security reasons under long-standing agreements.
“All decisions about whether to authorize the use of military bases in the United Kingdom by foreign states for operational purposes take into account the legal basis and political context for any proposed activity,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Al Carnes wrote in response to questions from independent British MP Jeremy Corbyn, according to a January report in the UK Defense Journal.
Starmer and Trump spoke by phone on Tuesday night. The next day, Trump, in a post on the Truth Social platform, withdrew his support for a deal that would have given sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, the chain in the Indian Ocean that hosts the US-UK Joint Naval Support Service Diego Garcia, to Mauritius in exchange for a 99-year lease on the military base.
This image released by the US Navy shows an aerial view of the Diego Garcia base in Chagos Atoll / US Navy via AP, File
The Chagos Islands, the Diego Garcia base and decolonization
Britain had separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before the colony gained independence, which has been a source of diplomatic friction as well as multiple legal battles with the dispossessed locals. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that Britain must return the islands “as soon as possible” so they can be decolonised.
Since then, a deal to return them has been working its way through British government channels, with London arguing that a lease compromise would prevent further costly and possibly futile legal battles while preserving military access to the Indian Ocean.
After initially opposing the UK-Mauritius deal, Trump in early February said it was the “best” Britain could do under the circumstances.
But as the US ramps up its forces in the region in anticipation of a possible attack on Iran, Trump has reversed course, saying in a Truth Social post that Starmer was “making a big mistake” by agreeing to the Mauritius lease deal.
“Prime Minister Starmer is losing control of this important island due to claims by previously unknown entities. In our opinion, they are fantastic,” Trump’s post said.
Just a day earlier, the US State Department issued a statement saying in part that Washington “supports the UK’s decision to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius”.
Asked about the discrepancy between the Truth Social post and the State Department’s statement, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said the president’s post should be seen as the Trump administration’s “policy.”
Airmen of the 509th Bombardment Wing near a B-2 Spirit at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, after returning from Diego Garcia. / Staff Sgt. Joshua Hastings/US Air Force via AP
The role of Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford
In his social media post, Trump directly referred to the two UK air bases that British media have reported as important to a possible attack on Iran.
“It may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia and the airport located at Fairford in order to eliminate a potential attack by an extremely unstable and dangerous regime,” Trump wrote.
Neither Diego Garcia nor Fairford, the main forward operating base for US strategic bombers in Europe, were used in last June’s only B-2 bomber attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. In this case, the stealth bombers flew a round trip of about 37 hours from their base in Missouri.
However, analysts expect that any new US attack on Iran could be a much longer campaign, possibly weeks or longer.
In such a campaign, the use of bases by the B-2s, as well as the B-1 and B-52 bombers, thousands of miles closer to Iran would allow faster re-formations to rearm and resupply for more attacks.
While the US may have access to other bases in friendly countries closer to Iran, using them could put its valuable fleet of heavy bombers within range of retaliatory Iranian missile strikes.
Source: cnn.gr