00:00Well, I mean, first of all, if you read what he said, and it was confirmed that that is U
00:04.S. policy,
00:05actually, like us, he doesn't like the idea of a lease.
00:07He says it should be sovereign territory.
00:09That's what it currently is. It's U.K. sovereign territory.
00:11We think it should stay as that.
00:13But in terms of your point, a very good question.
00:16This was also asked yesterday, and again the minister didn't answer,
00:19about whether the government had declined the U.S. permission to use U.K. bases,
00:24Diego Garcia or Fairford, for any potential attack on Iran.
00:27We can all see the build-up of military capability.
00:31Our position is, you know, the last thing we want is a nuclear weapon in the hands of a regime
00:36like the Iranian one
00:37that murders its own people by the thousandfold.
00:40And in our view, if the U.S. requested use of our bases and we were in government,
00:45we would grant that use because we think it would be in our interests to undertake that action.
00:50But we do it closely with the United States.
00:52And obviously, this is about ultimately, to be blunt, our safety and our security.
00:57Because we think Iran is such a threat, especially if it gets a nuclear weapon.
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