US and UK discuss use of Diego Garcia site as Iran counters Trump’s threat to use it in attack

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his British counterpart were to meet on Friday in Washington amid tensions between the allies over the future of the remote Chagos Islands, and in particular over the possible use of the British military base Diego Garcia on those islands in any new US attack on Iran.

President Trump criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on social media this week over a deal reached last year for the UK to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but retain control of Diego Garcia through a 100-year lease.

Mr. Trump called it a “big mistake” and urged Starmer “not to give Diego Garcia,” warning in his post on the Truth Social platform that “if Iran decides not to make an Agreement” with the US on its nuclear program “the United States may have to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield in Fairford. [England]in order to eliminate possible attacks from an unstable and highly dangerous State.”

On Tuesday, the US State Department issued a statement supporting London’s agreement with Mauritius that the small country took sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean region. But Mr. Trump dismissed it the next day on his social media account as “an act of HUGE HUMANITY,” making a link to his threat to Iran if the Islamic Republic does not agree to a new deal to control its nuclear program.

The Times of London, along with other British news channels, reported on Thursday that the UK government denied the US permission to use Diego Garcia and the Royal Air Force’s Fairford base in England – both of which carry American long-range bombs – for new strikes on Iran.

The UK Ministry of Defense declined to comment directly on operational issues, but a government spokesman told CBS News on Thursday that Britain supports the ongoing political process between the US and Iran, adding: “Iran must never be able to develop a nuclear weapon, and the first thing we need is security in the region.”

CBS News has confirmed that Diego Garcia’s case will be discussed in Washington on Friday at a meeting between Rubio and UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

President Trump ordered a a massive US military build-up around Iranincluding both naval and air power, as it pressures Tehran to do a will face its nuclear enrichment program.

The deployment includes the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group, already in the Arabian Sea, and the second strike group, led by the largest carrier in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford, which was seen crossing the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday on its way into the Mediterranean. That deployment would put both strike groups, including associated warships and aircraft carriers, far from Iran.

A senior regional official told CBS News on Thursday that one of the reasons the US is moving two aircraft carriers to the region is the reluctance of some US countries to allow their territory to be used for any strikes on Iran. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE have all said their airspace and territory will not be used for strikes by either group.

Meanwhile, Iran has protested at the United Nations complaining about Mr. Trump’s threat that he may attack if continued diplomacy fails.

In a letter sent Thursday by Iran’s UN mission to members of the Security Council, obtained by CBS News, the Islamic Republic called the “violent statement” of Mr. Trump about the possible use of Diego Garcia in the attack is a “clear violation” of the UN charter and international law that he said risks “putting the region into a new cycle of problems and instability.”

The letter says Iran has “participated constructively, seriously and sincerely, in nuclear talks” with the US, and called on the UN and its members to “take action without delay, before it is too late” to “ensure that the United States immediately ceases its illegal threats to use force.”