Donald Trump has said the United Kingdom “took far too long” to allow US forces to use its airbases for strikes against Iran, and expressed disappointment in Sir Keir Starmer over the government’s deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The US president told the Daily Telegraph that the Chagos agreement, which he initially supported before changing his mind, was a “very woke thing”. He added that Britain should have immediately allowed the use of the Diego Garcia base, saying Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country”.
Mr Trump’s comments came after the UK did not permit US forces to use Diego Garcia or other British airbases during the initial wave of US-Israeli attacks on Iran, due to concerns about the legality of the strikes. On Sunday evening, Sir Keir said the position had changed following Iranian retaliatory missile and drone attacks on targets in the Middle East, including one that hit a UK airbase in Cyprus.
The US president said the UK had been too slow to change its mind, adding: “It took far too much time. That’s probably never happened between our countries before. It sounds like he was worried about the legality.” He also criticised the Chagos deal, saying Sir Keir “should have fought it out” and retained ownership of the islands rather than giving them to “people that weren’t the rightful owners”.
The UK government’s bill to formalise the Chagos agreement is paused at its final parliamentary stage after Mr Trump changed his mind. Sir Keir has said the plan will not proceed without US agreement. Mr Trump also said the strikes against Iran were “well ahead of schedule”, claiming all of the leadership had been taken out in one day.
