U.S., U.K. Clash Quietly Over Using Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford for Possible Iran Strikes

CBS reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper are meeting in Washington Friday with the future of Britain’s Diego Garcia base and RAF Fairford on the table, after British media said London has refused U.S. requests to use them in any new attack on Iran. The Biden‑era State Department publicly backed the U.K.’s deal to hand Chagos Islands sovereignty to Mauritius while leasing Diego Garcia to Britain for 100 years, but President Trump blasted the agreement on Truth Social as an 'act of GREAT STUPIDITY' and warned that if Iran won’t accept his nuclear‑deal terms, the U.S. 'may be necessary' to use both Diego Garcia and Fairford to 'eradicate' a perceived threat. The article confirms that allied reluctance is already constraining Pentagon planning: Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE have told Washington their airspace and territory cannot be used by any party for Iran strikes, and a senior regional official says that’s one reason the U.S. is rushing a second carrier strike group, led by USS Gerald R. Ford, into the region alongside USS Abraham Lincoln. Tehran has filed a formal protest letter at the UN calling Trump’s rhetoric a 'belligerent statement' and warning the Security Council of the risk of U.S. aggression. The piece underscores how Trump’s public threats are colliding with allied political red lines and forcing Washington toward a more carrier‑centric strike posture that is riskier and more escalatory, even before a single bomb is dropped.