US sends B-52 bombers to British territory Diego Garcia as Iran tensions mount
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The B-52s are capable of hitting Iran from Diego Garcia
The B-52s are capable of hitting Iran from Diego Garcia CREDIT: REUTERS/USAF-HANDOUT
Raf Sanchez, middle east correspondent
7 JANUARY 2020 • 11:35AM
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Donald Trump could order airstrikes on Iran from the British overseas territory of Diego Garcia without asking for permission from the UK government, Downing Street acknowledged on Tuesday.
The US deployed six long-range B-52 bombers to the Indian Ocean base as part of its preparations for possible conflict with Iran in the aftermath of the killing of Qassim Soleimani.
No orders have been given yet to strike but Mr Trump has threatened to hit 52 Iranian targets, including cultural heritage sites, if Iran attacks US forces in retaliation for Soleimani’s death.
The US runs a secretive air base from Diego Garcia and the British government has little to no control on what operations the American military runs from the island.
Downing Street admitted that Mr Trump could order strikes on Iran from the island without seeking permission from Britain. “It is provided for under existing agreements,” a spokesman said.
Diego Garcia is the site of a secretive US military base
Diego Garcia is the site of a secretive US military base CREDIT: REUTERS
The base on Diego Garcia is 2,400 miles from southern Iran, meaning it is within flying range for the strategic American bombers but beyond the reach of most Iranian missiles.
Diego Garcia is the largest of a string of small islands that Britain retained control of in the 1960s even as it granted independence to other islands that would become the nation of Mauritius.
Britain said it was necessary to retain control of the islands for security reasons. Diego Garcia was leased to the US soon after and the American military has since built a sprawling military facility on the island.
The CIA used the territory at least twice in 2002 to transport detainees between “black site” interrogation centres in the aftermath of September 11.
The UK government at first denied any involvement in the US “extraordinary rendition” programme before eventually acknowledging that Diego Garcia was used as a transport hub.
The Pentagon has sent around 3,500 additional soldiers to the Middle East since Iranian-backed militias briefly laid siege to the US embassy in Baghdad last week.
A total of around 14,000 additional US troops have been sent to the region since tensions with Iran spiked in May and the US said it had evidence of Iranian plans to attack American ships in the Gulf.
අමෙරිකන් කරයට ලoකාව ඔනි nae Diego Garcia thiyanawa
puluwan dha?
ඔන්න බලපල්ලා මෝඩයෝ බලයට ආවහම වෙන දේ...
