Britain condemned Iran’s “reckless threat” after a missile attack on the joint US-British military base on Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean.
However, Iran denied allegations that it was involved in the two ballistic missile launches reported by US media.
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The United States has not publicly commented on the missile launch into Diego Garcia, 4,000 kilometers from Iran.
The incident was reported after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, with one goal reportedly being to degrade Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
The Iranian government maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. Tulsi Gabbard, the U.N. nuclear watchdog and U.S. intelligence chief, said Iran is not trying to build a nuclear bomb. Contrary claims were invoked to start the current war.
Here’s what we know about the alleged missile launch and what it means for the war.
Was Diego Garcia Air Base an Iranian target?
According to US media, the attempted targeting of Joint Military Base Diego Garcia by ballistic missiles reportedly occurred between Thursday night and Friday morning.
The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that one of the missiles failed in flight and the other was hit by a U.S. interceptor missile fired from a warship.
It is said to have happened just hours before British ministers gathered in London to discuss the Iran war. At the meeting, Britain agreed to allow the United States to use its military bases for collective self-defense, including attacks on Iranian missile bases used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
British authorities have not released details of Diego Garcia’s attempted attack.
Muhanad Sellom, a lecturer at the Doha Graduate Institute, told Al Jazeera that the reported Iranian attack “changes the calculus” of war for the United States.
“These missiles on Diego Garcia mean that Iran has ballistic missiles with a range of more than 4,000 km (4,000 km), which was not disclosed until now. All previous reports said that Iran had a range of 2,000 km (1,240 miles) and would not go beyond that,” Serloom said.
“If we reversed the direction of these missiles, they could reach London, which would change not only the legitimacy of the United States and its war, but also the calculations of London and the European Union, which are reluctant to join the war.”
A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Iran was not responsible for the alleged missile launch.
Earlier this month, in an interview with US broadcaster NBC, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragushi denied US President Donald Trump’s claims that Iran had developed a missile capable of reaching US territory.
“As you know, we have the ability to build missiles, but we have deliberately limited the range to less than 2,000 kilometers because we don’t want anyone in the world to feel threatened,” Araghchi said on March 8.
Anise Basili Tabrizi, an associate fellow in Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, said Iranian denials of the attack depended on the nature of the attack and its aftermath.
“I think this denial is different from the steps Iran is taking in other areas. The only time Iran has denied an attack is when the attack was more of a civilian infrastructure or some gas plant,” he told Al Jazeera.
Iran denies the attack, which Tabrizi believes “could provoke further action or retaliation.” “This is also about crossing another red line that we haven’t crossed before,” he said.
The target of Diego Garcia Air Base is “particularly sensitive because we know that the range of the missile fired was much further than the 2,000 kilometers that Iran has traditionally claimed to have had a missile range of 2,000 kilometers.”
He said: “This demonstrates Iran’s ability to reach well beyond 2,000km, so it raises further concerns and is likely to provoke a reaction, particularly from the UK but also from other countries.”
What did England say?
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned Iran’s “reckless” attack after London insisted it would not get drawn into a wider conflict in the Middle East.
“Our approach to this conflict has always been the same. We have not and will not engage in aggressive actions. We take a different view on this than the United States or Israel,” she said.
Mr Cooper said RAF jets and other military assets were protecting “nationals and personnel in the region”. It added that any action to protect the Strait of Hormuz constitutes “collective self-defense.”
The strategic strait has been effectively blocked by the Iranian government, leading to a rise in global oil prices.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday that Britain would not use bases in Cyprus for Iran-related operations after discussing the future of the bases with Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides.
How did Israel react to this?
Israeli military commander Eyal Zamir claimed that Iran used a “two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 km” to target the US-British base in Diego Garcia.
“These missiles are not intended to attack Israel. Their range reaches the capitals of Europe. Berlin, Paris and Rome are all within range of a direct threat,” Zamir said in a video statement.
Israel, a close ally of the United States, has long argued that Iran’s missile and nuclear programs pose a threat and has been lobbying the United States for decades to intervene militarily. However, successive US administrations have resisted pressure to launch military strikes against Iran. Instead, the US government imposed broad sanctions to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
The United States and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since 1979, shortly after Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Iran and took 66 Americans hostage after the Iranian revolution that year.
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama signed a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. However, this landmark agreement was opposed by Israel. President Trump, who succeeded President Obama, unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
In June, the United States joined in attacking Iran during its 12-day war with Israel. The United States attacked major nuclear facilities, and President Trump claimed that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been destroyed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to speak of war against Iran, even though Iran and the United States began talks over the nuclear issue late last year. Prime Minister Netanyahu had criticized President Obama for not including Iran’s ballistic missile program in the 2015 deal. The Iranian government has ruled out putting its missile program on the negotiating table.
As another round of talks was scheduled, the US and Israel attacked Iran three weeks ago, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Oman, which brokered the latest talks, said an agreement was “within reach”.
Analysts said Prime Minister Netanyahu persuaded President Trump to start a war, which legal experts said was more like starting a war. violation The United Nations Charter’s prohibition on aggression.
They said they were encouraged by Israel’s lack of accountability for war crimes following its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and destroyed vast swaths of Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
Prime Minister Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant for war crimes, but that has not stopped him from repeatedly traveling to the United States.
Several of Netanyahu’s ministers have openly advocated for a “Greater Israel,” an Israeli territory stretching from the Nile to Iraq’s Euphrates.
Why would Diego Garcia be a potential target?
Approximately 2,500 personnel, mostly Americans, are stationed at the British-American military air base, which has supported U.S. military operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as attacks against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The airbase is part of the Chagos Islands, a remote archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean south of the tip of India that has been under British control since 1814.
The air base is at the center of a dispute between Mr Trump and Mr Starmer over Britain’s plans to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following a ruling by the International Court of Justice.
President Trump slammed European allies for not joining the war against Iran, which is expanding its influence across the Middle East. President Trump also called Western allies “cowards” after NATO countries refused to join the war, which has caused global energy costs to soar.
Elijah Magnier, a Brussels-based military and political analyst, said the missile launch on Diego Garcia reflected Iran’s deepening response to the war started by the United States and Israel.
“The battlefield is expanding geographically, and as it does so, it becomes more difficult to control the escalation that the Americans want because new elements, new locations are becoming vulnerable,” Magnier told Al Jazeera.
“This is why the U.S. has to rethink its entire strategy. Iran is not trying to win a conventional war — which the U.S. cannot win because it is much more powerful — but it is trying to change the cost of the equation.”
“Threatening distant targets signals that continuing the war comes with increasingly high risks.”
