Trump: Starmer’s permission for UK bases to be used took ‘too long’ amid US military aircraft crashes in Kuwait

A Fighter Jet takes off from the UK.'s RAF Akrotiri air base after it was hit by a drone strike early morning near Limassol, Cyprus, Monday, March, 2, 2026. Picture; AP Photo/Petros Karadjias

Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Britain's Keir Starmer for initially refusing to allow the use of the UK-US Diego Garcia base to target Iran.

The US president said it “took far too long” for the British Prime Minister to change his mind.

Mr Starmer announced late on Sunday that US forces would be allowed to operate from British bases against Iran, but only in a limited role targeting missile sites.

Mr Trump highlighted the issues around Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, which are at the centre of a diplomatic row between the UK, US and Mauritius, in a Telegraph interview.

The US president criticised the refusal to grant permission to use the base for the initial strikes against Iran’s military and leadership.

“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he said, adding, “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.” 

Referring to Mr Starmer's change of position, he added: “It is useful. It took far too much time. Far too much time.” 

Mr Starmer's announcement came just hours before a drone hit the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus.

Force Protection personnel stop a vehicle at the main gate of the UK's RAF Akrotiri air base after it was hit by a drone strike early morning near Limassol, Cyprus, Monday, March, 2, 2026. Picture: AP Photo/Petros Karadjias

Officials said RAF Akrotiri was continuing to operate as normal despite the attack, but family members of personnel had been moved away from the base as a precaution.

The drone is believed to have been launched before Sir Keir announced he had allowed US forces to use British bases, rather than in retaliation for the policy shift.

Meanwhile, several US military aircraft crashed in Kuwait early on Monday, but all crew members survived and were in stable condition, Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence said, as conflict widened across the Middle East.

In a separate incident, smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the US Embassy compound in Kuwait City, and fire trucks and ambulances were in the area, a witness told Reuters.

There were no responses to requests for comment on the embassy incident from the US Embassy in Kuwait or from the US State Department.

Kuwait intercepted hostile drones earlier on Monday, the third consecutive day of Iranian retaliatory strikes on neighbouring Gulf states in response to US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.

The Kuwait Defence Ministry statement, which was carried by the state news agency, said the crews from the crashed aircraft were evacuated and transferred to the hospital and were in stable condition. It added that the response was carried out in coordination with US forces.

Iran's state media cited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying Iranian armed forces hit a US plane that crashed in Kuwait.

Online video verified by Reuters as being taken in the Al Jahra area of Kuwait showed a military aircraft falling from the sky and a person parachuting in the same shot.

The Kuwaiti statement did not specify how many aircraft were involved.

In this photo taken with a slow shutter speed, a Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut as smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs, early Monday, March 2, 2026. Picture: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

FALLING DEBRIS INJURES WORKERS 

Two workers were slightly injured by falling debris at Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, Kuwait's National Petroleum Company said on X.

The US Embassy in Kuwait warned US citizens that there was a continuing threat of missile and drone attacks in the country and urged citizens not to come to the embassy. It advised people to shelter in place, remain on the lowest floor of their residence away from windows and not go outside.

No injuries were reported after Kuwait air defences intercepted the majority of the drones near Rumaithiya and Salwa neighbourhoods, the state news agency cited the director-general of the civil defence as saying.

A series of loud blasts was heard on Monday morning in Dubai and the Qatari capital of Doha, according to Reuters witnesses. Loud bangs and sirens were heard earlier in Kuwait, according to Reuters witnesses.

Tehran said it would target US bases in the region after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday.

It has also hit a range of civilian and commercial areas across Gulf cities, widening the conflict's impact on key regional aviation and trade hubs.

- with additional reporting from Reuters