Politics
British minister stonewalls public questions on Diego Garcia bombers
Defence minister Al Carns resorted to the tired old ‘security concerns’ excuse to deny the British public basic details about our involvement in the Iran War. Carns—a former Special Forces colonel—refused to answer Your Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s question about US military bases.
Corbyn asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times United States aircraft taking off from Diego Garcia have conducted strikes on Iran since 28 February 2026.
Diego Garcia is a colonial military outpost in the Indian Ocean, often used by the US for Middle East operations.
Carns answered:
For operational security reasons, we do not offer comment or information relating to foreign nations’ military operations.
Permissions to utilise UK military bases by foreign partners are considered on a case-by-case basis. All UK operational support to allies and partners is considered in terms of legality.
Corbyn asked a similar question about US use of bases in the UK, and was given the same answer.
The official UK positions is that the UK only has a defensive role in the unprovoked US and Israeli attack on Iran. This argument barely stands up to even the most basic scrutiny, as the Canary has reported.
Decolonisation cancelled
In May 2025, the UK signed an agreement to hand Diego Garcia to Mauritius while retaining significant basing rights. That is until US president Donald Trump complained about it. The deal is currently on hold.
US outlet The Hill reported on 11 April 2026:
The agreement to transfer the islands to Mauritius, which would allow for continued use of the base, stemmed from a decades-long legal battle to address Britain’s colonial past.
Trump called the move a “great act of stupidity” in January 2026 — and ultimately the British said they were:
permanently abandoning the agreement with Mauritius, stating that it cannot go forward with the transfer without U.S. support.
The Hill reported:
But the government noted that ensuring the Diego Garcia base’s “long-term operational security is and will continue to be our priority –– it is the entire reason for the deal,” according to an official statement.
“We are continuing to engage with the U.S. and Mauritius,” the British government stated.
US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.
The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked – creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until:
the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender.
Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket but now faces spectacular humiliation.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
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