Iran, on Friday night, launched two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, the joint U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean. Both missiles failed to hit the airbase as the U.S. warships tried to intercept them from reaching their target, about 2,360 miles from Iran.
“Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-U.K. military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, according to multiple U.S. officials,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “One of the missiles failed in flight, and a U.S. warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, according to two of the people. It couldn’t be determined if an interception was made, according to one of the officials.”
The Iranian regime admitted firing ballistic missiles towards the base. “Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the U.S.-U.K. military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean,” Reuters wrote, quoting Iranian regime media.
The London-based Telegraph reported Saturday morning:
Iran fired two ballistic missiles at Britain’s Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, US officials have said.Neither of the two missiles hit their targets, with one believed to have been intercepted by a US warship and the other having failed in flight on Friday morning.The attempted attack on the joint UK-US base was the first time Tehran used intermediate-range ballistic missiles, which fly farther. It marks a significant escalation of the conflict.Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, threatened Britain on Friday. He warned that Sir Keir Starmer was “putting British lives at risk” by allowing the US to use UK bases.At the time, it was not public knowledge that Tehran had fired at Diego Garcia, which is 2,500 miles from Iran.Downing Street confirmed last night it has allowed the US to carry out missions from British bases to degrade Iran’s capability to close the Strait of Hormuz.Diego Garcia and the Chagos Islands are part of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The archipelago is at the centre of a row between the Government and Donald Trump, who has criticised Sir Keir’s attempts to give away the islands to Mauritius, which is seeking deeper ties with Iran.
The Iranian missile attacks coincide with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s belated decision to allow the U.S. to use the airbase as part of the operation Epic Fury against Iran. “Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, is… home to an airbase capable of accommodating long-range US bombers,” The Guardian (UK) noted.
“The UK has agreed to allow the US to use British bases to launch strikes on Iranian sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz,” the BBC reported late Friday. At the beginning of the operation, Prime Minister Starmer declared that Britain would not “get involved in the offensive strikes of the US and Israel.”
President Donald Trump slammed Starmer, saying he “should have acted a lot faster” in allowing the U.S. military to use the strategic airbase.
This is not the first U-turn Starmer has performed on the issue of Diego Garcia. Trump criticised London for its decision to hand over the islands to neighbouring Mauritius, a China-friendly island nation. In February, the U.S. president cautioned that “Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia.” If that were to happen, “it will be a blight on our great ally.” Weeks later, Starmer ‘paused‘ the process of handing over the islands.
The attack on the allied base comes as the Israel Defense Force (IDF) is engaged in dismantling Iran’s ability to carry out such long-range strikes.
The Israeli Air Force is launching waves of strikes on Iranian military and terrorist targets. “The IDF continues to deepen its strikes on the systems and capabilities of the Iranian terror regime,” the Israeli military announced Friday evening.
“In the waves of strikes in Tehran, the IDF struck several factories and sites used by the Iranian regime to produce weapons intended to harm the State of Israel and other countries. In addition, sites where components for long-range ballistic missiles, posing a direct threat to the State of Israel, were struck,” the IDF disclosed.
“In the additional wave of strikes, east of Tehran, sites where long-range ballistic missile launchers were stored were struck, while operatives from the ballistic missile array were operating inside,” the statement added.
While Israel and the U.S. target Iran’s terrorist leadership and its military infrastructure, the regime continues to fire missiles at Israeli towns and cities, including those containing cluster munitions.
The U.S. and Israel carried out a strike on a key nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran, regime media claims. Frances Le Monde quoted Iranian authorities, who said ‘no leakage of radioactive materials reported’ in the area.
The Times of Israel reported:
The US and Israel launched an attack on the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility this morning, Iran’s Tasnim news agency says.No radioactive leaks have occurred, and residents near the site are not at risk, Tasnim adds.The Natanz facility was one of the main targets in the previous 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, which the US eventually joined, and has also been targeted during the ongoing fighting.
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