LONDON — Iran has fired missiles at the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, claiming the strike shows it is capable of longer-distance attacks than previously known.
“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday, confirming the unsuccessful strike.
Tehran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the base in the Chagos Islands, a remote British overseas territory located more than 2,000 miles from Tehran, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Saturday. Neither missile hit the base, it added, though neither Iran nor the U.K. specified how close the missiles came to Diego Garcia.
The distance of the attempted strike could indicate that Iran has capabilities for long-distance attacks that it has previously denied, with the base the same distance from Iran as much of central Europe. It is unclear, however, if the missiles carried a payload or how far such an attack could truly reach, as neither missile reached its target.
In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” earlier this month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country had intentionally kept the range of its missiles below 1,250 miles “because we don’t want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world.”
The Wall Street Journal, citing multiple officials, reported that one of the missiles was shot down by a U.S. warship and the other failed in flight.
Mehr said targeting the base was a “significant step ... that shows that the range of Iran’s missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined.”
One analyst said the intercepted missile could be a "candidate for the longest-range missile" that the U.S. has ever shot down.
Iran has been testing "big, solid missiles" over the years, Tom Karako, who runs the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told NBC News. "So it's not at all surprising."
There’s been speculation before that Iran could be capable of strikes beyond the claimed 1,250-mile limit, he added, "they just haven't shown their cards." The attack on Diego Garcia "would seem to be" that moment, he said.
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The attack on Friday came shortly before the U.K. announced that it would allow the U.S. to use its bases, including Diego Garcia, to hit targets near the Strait of Hormuz.
Government ministers agreed to allow the U.S. military to use its bases to conduct “defensive operations” to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday, weeks into a conflict that has seen Britain, like most of Europe, remain largely on the sidelines.
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About 20% of the oil that the world consumes every day travels via the Strait of Hormuz, which runs along part of Iran’s coast. But since the war began at the end of February, shipping in the channel has come to a halt.
President Donald Trump said the decision to allow the use of U.K. bases was “a very late response from the U.K.” He had previously criticized the nation for a perceived lack of support in Iran, saying its Starmer was “no Winston Churchill.” He called NATO allies “cowards” on Friday for refusing to offer warships to support reopening the shipping channel, though he had previously said their support would not be needed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Starmer was “putting British lives in danger” by allowing the use of bases.
“Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-U.S. war of choice on Iran,” Araghchi wrote on X. “Ignoring his own People, Mr. Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self-defense.”
Starmer has so far walked a tightrope on Iran, balancing diplomatic relations with Trump and protecting U.K. assets in the Mediterranean with avoiding direct participation in a war that polling shows is overwhelmingly unpopular with the British public.
The Diego Garcia base is about 2,360 miles from Iran and home to an air base capable of accommodating long-range U.S. bombers.
The Chagos Islands, which house the base, have been part of a separate rift between the U.K. and the Trump administration, after Britain agreed to cede sovereignty over the territory to Mauritius and lease back the base.
Trump has vacillated between supporting the proposed deal and publicly attacking Starmer over it, most recently urging Starmer not to “give away Diego Garcia” in February, despite Washington giving its official backing just days before.
Mauritius, an Indian Ocean nation and a close ally of China, had argued that it was illegally forced to give away the archipelago to gain independence from Britain. The International Court of Justice sided with Mauritius in a 2019 case over the territory, issuing an advisory ruling that declared the British occupation unlawful.
As part of the deal backed by Starmer, the U.K. and the U.S. will retain a 99-year lease of the Diego Garcia military base.
