The United States has started using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the UK government announced on Saturday.
Britain’s defence ministry said the US had begun using the military sites for “specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region”.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer annoyed US President Donald Trump for initially refusing to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran, which started a week ago, on February 28.
He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose”.
Those bases are Fairford in Gloucestershire, southwestern England, and the UK-US Diego Garcia base on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
A US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber landed at Fairford on Saturday, an AFP photographer saw.
An American C-5 Galaxy plane could also be seen on the runway of the base, as anti-war protesters demonstrated outside.
Trump had said he was “not happy with the UK”. He mocked Starmer, saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.
