\n British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has blocked a request from US President Donald Trump to allow US forces to use UK air bases during any preemptive attack on Iran, saying it could break international law, according to multiple reports in British media citing government sources.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to The Times<\/a> of London, which first reported the split over airbase access, Starmer has denied the use of RAF Fairford in England and Diego Garcia \u2013 the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean \u2013 for any strike on Iran.\n <\/p>\n \n The two bases have long served as crucial overseas US military staging posts for operations far from home, with Diego Garcia a key airfield for the US\u2019 heavy bomber fleet.\n <\/p>\n \n The Times reports Britain is concerned that allowing the US to use the bases \u201cwould be a breach of international law, which makes no distinction between a state carrying out the attack and those in support if the latter have \u2018knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The Times cited UK government sources. The BBC, The Guardian and The Telegraph also subsequently published their own reports on the UK blocking access to the bases, citing sources.\n <\/p>\n \n American requests to use UK bases for operational purposes historically have been considered on a case-by-case basis, with precise criteria withheld for security reasons under long-standing agreements.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAll decisions on whether to approve foreign nations\u2019 use of military bases in the UK for operational purposes considers the legal basis and policy rationale for any proposed activity,\u201d Veterans Minister Al Carns wrote in response to questions from independent British member of parliament Jeremy Corbyn, according to a January report from the UK Defence Journal<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Starmer and Trump held a phone call on Tuesday evening, with readouts saying the two discussed peace in the Middle East and Europe.\n <\/p>\n \n The following day Trump took to his Truth Social platform to withdraw support for a deal that would see sovereignty over the Chagos Islands<\/a>, the Indian Ocean chain that is home to the joint US-UK Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, handed to Mauritius in return for a 99-year lease on the military base.\n <\/p>\n \n CNN has approached the White House for comment.\n <\/p>\n \n Britain had split the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before that colony gained independence, something that has been a source of diplomatic friction as well as multiple legal battles with locals who were evicted. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled<\/a> Britain should return the islands \u201cas rapidly as possible,\u201d so that they could be decolonized.\n <\/p>\n