The United States began using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the government in London announced on Saturday. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP news agency. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the US had begun using military bases for “specific defensive operations to prevent Iran from launching missiles into the region”.
- The United States uses British military bases for defensive operations against Iran.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer angered US President Donald Trump when he initially denied any role in the US-Israeli war with Iranwhich started on February 28. He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for “specific and limited defensive purposes”. These bases are located in Fairford, Gloucestershire, West England, and the British-American Diego García Complex in the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, defended his original decision by saying any UK decision “must always have a legal basis and a well thought out plan”. Starmer also insisted he was right to change his stance because Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes to US-Israeli strikes threatened British interests and allies in the region.
Starmer’s ruling Labor MPs remain “haunted” by former prime minister Tony Blair’s disastrous support for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. A survey of 1,045 Britons by Survation found that 56 per cent of respondents believed Starmer had done the right thing by not engaging Britain in the initial attacks. Only 27 percent of respondents believe he made a mistake.
