Britain says talks under way with U.S. on base use

Military contingency planning between the U.K. and U.S. on potential flashpoints in the Middle East is under way, Britain said Friday, adding however that it does not support any imminent strike on nuclear sites in Iran, the Associated Press reported.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office said Friday that planning was being carried out with the U.S. and other allies, including on the potential use by U.S. forces of British bases overseas, the AP reported.

This follows a report Thursday in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper that Britain is saying no to a U.S. request to use U.K. military bases for a build-up of forces for a standoff with Iran.

U.S. diplomats have been lobbying for the use of British bases in Cyprus as well as on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are British territories, the daily said.

Source: Daily Star (Lebanon)/AP, 26 October 2012