On the same day that the United States began bombing Iran from an airbase north of London, Donald Trump told the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, that... "we don't need" the help of that country in the war against Iran. Trump also issued a threatening "we don't forget" in his message, causing some surprise in the UK. After all, the US entered World War II more than two years after it had started and not by its own will. In the case of the European front, the US only joined the conflict when Adolf Hitler declared war on them.
With his obsessive use of capital letters, Trump wrote a message to Starmer on his social media platform Truth Social that concludes with a resounding "we don't need people to join Wars we've already won". Before that conclusion, Trump vented in a text stating that "the United Kingdom, once our Great Ally, perhaps the Greatest of all, is finally paying attention to the idea of sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East."
With that reference, Trump refers to the preparations for one of the two aircraft carriers — not both — owned by London, the Prince of Wales, to set sail. The British government has not disclosed the reasons for these operations. However, given the apparent urgency, everything indicates that the ship will participate in the war.
However, for Trump, that is irrelevant. "Okay, Prime Minister, we don't need them," he says, using the plural again even though, as far as is known, the twin of the 'Prince of Wales', the 'Queen Elizabeth', is in dry dock in Scotland, undergoing a modernization process that will not be completed for several months.
Trump's fury stems from Prime Minister Keir Starmer's decision to prohibit the US from using its bases in Diego Garcia — in the Indian Ocean — and in Fairford — in Gloucestershire, about 120 kilometers from London — for the B-1, B-2, and B-52 strategic bombers against Iran.
The prohibition was based on London's belief that the Israeli-American attack violated International Law. After 36 hours of bombings, London authorized the use of both bases for US planes to bomb Iranian missile and drone launch sites against countries in the region.
On Thursday afternoon, the first three B-1s arrived at Fairford, from where they carried out their first bombing of Iran yesterday. By night, at least one more of those planes was flying from the US towards that base. From Fairford to Tehran, there are about 4,250 kilometers in a straight line, approximately one-third the distance from Dyess base in Texas, where most of the B-1s are stationed. There have been no reported missions from Diego Garcia at the moment.