Donald Trump says he was “very disappointed” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not allowing the US to use the UK’s Diego Garcia air base in the Chagos Islands to carry out strikes on Iran, the London Daily Telegraph has quoted the US president as saying in an interview.
Britain had initially denied the US permission to conduct any airstrikes from its bases, but on Sunday evening Starmer said he was accepting a US request for their use in “defensive strikes”.
Trump told the British newspaper on Monday that it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he told the Telegraph, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
We reported earlier that the UK’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus was hit by Iran today. The UK media reported a few minutes ago that two more drones had been fired towards Cyprus but intercepted.
Yvette Cooper, the UK’s foreign minister, told Sky News UK a short time ago that the UK has made a “deliberate decision” not to join the initial US-Israeli attacks. US use of bases was later permitted to help defend Gulf countries that were being targeted by Iran, she said.
With Reuters
