Did Iran launch missiles at US-UK base on Diego Garcia? Here’s what to know
The US has not officially commented on the firing of the missiles at Diego Garcia, which is 4,000km (2,500 miles) from Iran.
The incident was reported after the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28, one of whose goals, they said, was to degrade Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Tehran has maintained its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes. The United Nations nuclear watchdog and US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard said Iran was not on the verge of making nuclear bombs. Contrary assertions were invoked to launch the current war.
Here is what we know about the alleged missile launch and what it means for the war:
Was Diego Garcia airbase targeted by Iran?
An attempted targeting of the Diego Garcia joint military base by ballistic missiles reportedly happened between Thursday night and Friday morning, according to US media.
The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that one of the missiles failed mid-flight while the other was hit by a US interceptor fired from a warship.
It is said to have happened just hours before UK ministers were to assemble in London to discuss the Iran war. At the meeting, the UK agreed to let the US use its military bases for collective self-defence, such as hitting Iranian missile sites used in attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.“These missiles to Diego Garcia mean Iran has 4,000km-plus ballistic missiles, and that hasn’t been revealed before. All reports before that said Iran had a 2,000km [1,240-mile] range and not beyond that,” Seloom said.
“If you reverse the direction of these missiles, then they could reach London, so that changes the calculus not only for the US and its justification for the war but also for a reluctant London and European Union to join the war.”
A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Tehran is not responsible for the alleged missile launch.
Earlier this month in an interview with the US broadcaster NBC, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Tehran had developed missiles capable of reaching US territory.
“You know, we have capability to produce missiles, but we have intentionally limited ourselves to below 2,000km of range because we don’t want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world,” Araghchi said on March 8.
Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, said Iranian denials regarding attacks depend on their nature and their aftermath.
“I think the denial is different from the steps that Iran is taking on other fronts. Only a couple of instances when Iran denied an attack is when the strikes hit civilian infrastructure or some gas plants rather,” he told Al Jazeera.
Iran has denied attacks that Tabrizi believes would likely “provoke further action or retaliation potentially”. “It also constitutes a new crossing of a red line that it hasn’t crossed until now,” he said.
The targeting of the Diego Garcia airbase “is particularly sensitive because we know the distance of the missiles shot was more, much more than the 2,000km which Iran has previously said it kept its missiles to”.
“It signals the Iranian capability to reach far beyond 2,000km, and therefore, is something that is likely to provoke further concern and, therefore, response particularly from the UK but also from other countries,” he said.
