LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) – Britain was informed of the U.S. military strikes on Iran ahead of time, but did not receive any U.S. request for their shared Diego Garcia air base in the Indian Ocean to be used, senior minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he had “obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites in strikes overnight, in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to reserve all options to defend itself.
Reynolds said Britain had not taken part in the strikes, though it had previously moved military assets to the region and would take “all action necessary” to defend its key allies if they came under threat. He added that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was talking to Britain’s allies on 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.
Reynolds 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.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Kate Holton and Helen Popper)
