NICK HOPKINS – Britain has rebuffed U.S. pleas to use military bases in the UK to support the build-up of forces in the Gulf, citing secret legal advice which states that any preemptive strike on Iran could be in breach of international law. The Guardian has been told that U.S. diplomats have also lobbied for the use of British bases in Cyprus, and for permission to fly from U.S. bases on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are British territories.