President Donald Trump has expressed his disagreement with the UK's initial refusal to permit the use of its bases for the US-Israel strikes on Iran. Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office, Trump stated that he was "not happy with the UK" over the decision.
The US had sought to use the military base in Diego Garcia on the Chagos Islands, but the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, refused, only agreeing to the US request to use British military bases subsequently for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites.
Trump criticized Sir Keir's decision, saying "That island that you write about, the lease....for whatever reason, he made a lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken three or four days for us to work out where we can land." He added, "This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with."
UK Response
Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that the UK government "does not believe in regime change from the skies". However, after Iran's retaliation threatened British people across the Middle East, the UK agreed to allow the bases to be used to hit Tehran's missile infrastructure.
Treasury Minister Torsten Bell stated that "on the ground" the US and UK were continuing to work closely together, and that "what's most important is that in practice, we're seeing that cooperation happen".
International Reactions
Lord Darroch, former British ambassador to the US, described Trump's comments as "pretty brutal", adding that there was "obviously a serious rift" between the two countries. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed a drone struck a parking lot adjacent to the US consulate building in Dubai.
The Cypriot government suspects the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon targeted the UK's RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, prompting the deployment of the Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon to bolster security.
