US request to UK over Iran would have raised legal questions, ex-adviser says

Peter Ricketts says US likely to have decided it was better not to ask, after minister says no request was made

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The US did not ask to use UK airbases to support its overnight bombing of Iran because that would have required British ministers to take a view on the legality of the attack, according to a former government adviser.

Peter Ricketts, a former UK national security chief, said he believed the US had concluded it was better not to ask to launch B-2 bombers from the RAF base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean than to be told no.

“Either the Americans worked it out or were privately told please don’t ask because it would raise fundamental questions about our taking part,” Lord Ricketts said. “The US has a different view on international law than the UK does.”