LONDON, March 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said he is "very disappointed" in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for blocking him from using the military base in Diego Garcia to carry out strikes on Iran, according to British media on Monday.
Britain's previous refusal to let U.S. forces use the base was unlike anything that had "happened between our countries before," Trump said.
In a statement on Sunday night, Starmer accepted the U.S. request to use the base for "specific and limited defensive purpose." But Trump said Starmer "took far too long" to change his mind.
The Chagos Archipelago houses a key U.S.-British military base. Britain in 1965 detached the archipelago from Mauritius, then a British colony, and leased Diego Garcia, the largest island of the archipelago, to the United States as a joint U.S.-British military facility in the following year.
Under a deal announced in May 2025, Britain agreed to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while leasing back Diego Garcia for 99 years at 101 million pounds (136 million U.S. dollars) annually.
Trump last month called the lease a "big mistake," noting that it "may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia" if nuclear talks with Iran fail. ■
