Britain Rejects US Request to Use Bases in Attacking Iran

British Lawyers Warn Attack Would Violate International Law

The British government has reportedly spurned US requests to use the military bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia as a staging ground for a US attack on Iran, citing advice from British government lawyers that such an attack would violate international law.

Details on the request are scarce, so far, but US diplomats had been reportedly pressing for British permission to use the bases, and the British Defense Ministry has refused, citing advice from the Attorney General’s office that involvement would be illegal.

Unnamed British officials say the US was surprised by the reluctance across the British government to give them carte blanche for such an attack, saying they’d “expect resistance from senior Liberal Democrats, but it’s Tories as well.”

The US has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, making such threats over the past 30 years, and is faced with intense pressure from the Israeli government to launch such an attack soon. US officials apparently declined to provide British officials with a timetable on the planned attack, and simply wanted permission to do so any time it suits them.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.