Name: UK approves US use of British bases as Trump considers 'winding down' war in Iran | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-03-21T16:30:15.000Z
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President Trump has posted on social media that America is considering winding down its military campaign against Iran.

Adverbs of degree

On Truth Social, the US President wrote, we're getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East.

Earlier, President Trump told reporters at the White House that he didn't want a ceasefire as the US was already obliterating Iran.

We're hearing that US military officials are making detailed preparations for the possibility of deploying ground troops in Iran.

That's according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

On Thursday, Donald Trump told reporters that he wasn't putting troops anywhere.

But the other main developments this hour.

US media are reporting that Iran fired two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, but

neither hit the joint US UK base in the Chagos Islands.

Debris from an Iranian missile has hit the old hit the Old City of Jerusalem, just a few hundred meters from some of the world's most important religious sites.

Israel Defense Forces say that they've clashed with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, killing four people.

A correspondent, Joe Inwood, has the latest.

There are fewer images coming out of Iran these days amidst a continued communication blackout and threats from the regime for anyone sharing material.

But that does not mean the war is slowing down.

This was Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow stretch of water that is threatening the global economy and old alliances.

The UK has now agreed that US planes can use its bases, for example RAF Fairford, to attack targets that could threaten shipping going through the strait.

It is a shift from the British government some will see as subtle, others significant.

For Donald Trump, it seems to be too little.

I was a little surprised at the UK to be honest with you.

The Foreign Minister warning that the shift in policy would have consequences.

Mr. Starmer is putting British lives in danger, Abbas Araichi wrote.

Iran will exercise its right to self defence.

Overnight it was reported that two ballistic missiles were fired at the joint US UK base Diego Garcia, although neither reached its target.

It was exactly three weeks ago this morning that the US and Israel began this war, killing Iran's supreme leader and many of its top commanders.

Thousands of strikes have pounded the country, killing military personnel and civilians.

The US has repeatedly claimed to have all but destroyed the country's ability to fight back.

This was the scene in Jerusalem yesterday, a place usually considered safe, home to sites sacred to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but

now not immune from the Growing consequences of this war.

An Iranian missile was shot down and this was the result.

To Israel's north, the Iranian backed group Hezbollah are still firing rocke over the border, which continues to be met with a ferocious response.

Lebanese authorities say more than 1,000 people have now been killed in Israeli strikes, many of them civilians.

More than a million people are said to have been forced from their homes.

The question being asked by everyone suffering in this war, when will it end?

Donald Trump is nothing if not unpredictable.

And shortly after saying, I don't want to do a ceasefire, you know, you don't do a ceasefire when you're literally obliterating the other side.

He took to social media to say the US Was getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East.

But ending conflicts is often harder than starting them.

And Iran has vowed to keep fighting, whatever the cost.

So a number of potentially conflicting statements by President Trump about the war in the last few hours.

Earlier, my colleague Katrina Parry spoke to former senior US Naval officer Brian Clark.

She asked him first about the news that the UK Would allow the United States to use its military bases.

Yeah, it's important because the B1 bombers that are launching from the UK carry the largest payloads that the US is able to deploy in the area.

So they've been attacking the coastline along the Strait of Hormuz, and

that's been probably the biggest large scale attacks that have been done against the coastline to clear out the threats that are posed against shipping.

Now, we also just in the last hour or so have heard this news from President Trump that he thinks the US Is close to winding down the action in the region at the same time as there's a second set of reinforcements sailing along from California to make their way there.

Yeah, the new forces that are coming from California are theoretically going to replace the Marines that are already en route from Japan, so that those Marines can go back to their original duties, which is in the Indo Pacific region.

But I think what the President is trying to do is keep open options as long as possible so that he can pressure the Iranians towards some kind of agreement or capitulation.

Because if the Iranians see that now, we're going to have 5,000 troops on six ships available for a while to maybe do ground operations.

That might be another form of pressure that the US can place against them.

And on that issue of potential ground operations, no confirmation from the White House that that is their plan.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu has floated it as an idea.

Is it necessary to fully ensure that Iran has no nuclear capabilities?

Does that require people in Iran going to carry out operations?

Probably, because right now Iran has several hundred kilograms of enriched uranium up to about 50%.

So it's not a enough to build a bomb, but it's certainly a start.

And if you want to eliminate the nuclear program, you probably have to retrieve that nuclear material, which is going to require ground troops going deep inside of Iran to mount that kind of search and seizure operation.

Brian Clark, well, as we mentioned, fragments reported to be from an Iranian missile have fallen near the holy sites of the Western Wall and Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem.

Correspondent James Waterhouse is in Jerusalem.

James, give us an update on what's happened overnight.

Yeah, there's a, there's a strange rhythm to life in Jerusalem at the moment.

Everyone will have a notification on their phones.

And then within sort of a minute and a half, you'll hear explosions of varying levels of intensity, depending on how far away they are, of Iranian missiles being intercepted by the country's air defense system.

But yesterday we saw what appeared to be falling shrapnel that caused a relatively large crater close to the Al Aqsa mosque.

It's an area that is currently closed to worshippers, with the authorities saying it's out of security concerns.

But this is the current dynamic of the war from Jerusalem's perspective.

We're seeing the Iranians launch still able to launch missiles at Tel Aviv to the north, as well as targets across Israel.

The air defenses are holding for now, but

equally the idf, the Israeli Defense Forces are saying overnight they have continued to target Iranian sites, notably in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

And what you sense is, despite the conflicting messages, as you say, from Donald Trump, as to whether this war indeed is winding down or whether he indeed is going to be deploying more U.S.

As far as Israel is concerned, it's an extension of its window to pursue its military goals.

There are continued ground offensives, we're told, to the north in southern Lebanon, where Israel claims it's targeting armed Hezbollah militants, part of the Iranian proxy forces there.

And we've also seen Israel overnight target Syrian army posts close to the border, which has been condemned by many Arab countries.

But Benjamin Netanyahu is choosing his words carefully.

He is clearly having to follow Donald Trump's lead to a point, but

his specific goals in regards to this war clearly vary from the.

And there has been disagreement between them.

Donald Trump criticized Benjamin Netanyahu the other day.

So what's the relationship like between the two of them?

I mean, Benjamin Netanyahu gave a press conference yesterday in Hebrew.

He said the war will last for as long as it takes.

This is a military operation he has been wanting to take to undertake for years.

It's part of his political mission as he sees it.

But he also said in English in the same press conference that the war might not last for as long as people think.

You are not hearing either the US Or Israel talk about regime change in Iran.

They're sort of giving the same message, saying it is up for the Iranian people to rise up and topple the government if they wish.

I'm sure Israel would like the leadership to be toppled in Iran.

But as of now, the official goals seem to be the depletion of Iran's ability to manufacture missiles as well as its nuclear program.

But I think what is becoming an issue, increasing issue, especially for America, is the question of the Strait of Hormuz, where before this war, 20% of the world's oil passed through it.

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UK approves US use of British bases as Trump considers 'winding down' war in Iran | BBC News

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