 "Britain informed ahead of Iran strikes but not asked to provide Diego Garcia base")
Britain was given advance notice of the United States’ military strikes on Iran but was not asked to allow the use of their jointly operated Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, UK minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump announced that American forces had “obliterated” Iran’s primary nuclear facilities in overnight strikes, marking a significant escalation in Middle East tensions. Tehran has vowed to respond with all available means.
Reynolds clarified that the UK did not participate in the strikes but had previously deployed military assets to the region. He emphasised that Britain would take “all action necessary” to defend its key allies if threatened. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he added, was in ongoing communication with Britain’s international partners throughout Sunday.
”I know often because of British military assets, RAF Akrotiri (in Cyprus) or Diego Garcia, sometimes that request is made. And this was not a situation where that request was made,” Reynolds, the business and trade minister, told Sky News.
Diego Garcia is a strategically important UK-U.S. military base located in the Chagos Islands.
Reynolds said Britain knew about the strike in advance.
”I can’t tell you exactly when we did know, but we were informed, as you might expect,” he said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsReynolds said that the government was in ”active conversations” about chartering aircraft to get people out of the region within ”hours, not days”, pending the possible reopening of Israeli airspace.
Britain’s foreign ministry said it was preparing for a charter flight ”early next week”, adding that British nationals and their dependants in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories who were interested should register their details.
Trump’s intervention – despite his past pledges to avoid another “forever war” – threatens to dramatically widen the conflict, after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran last week, with Tehran vowing to retaliate if Washington joined in.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of sabotaging diplomacy after talks with European powers.
“This week, we held talks with the E3/EU when the US decided to blow up that diplomacy,” he wrote on X.
Aragchi later told reporters in Istanbul the United States and Israel had “crossed a very big red line”, asserting Iran would continue to defend itself “by all means necessary”.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the US strikes, saying Trump’s decision to “target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history”.
In response to the US attack, Iran’s armed forces said they targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport, the country’s main international gateway near Tel Aviv.
With inputs from agencies
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