Iran has reportedly launched missiles at Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean island that's home to a strategic UK-US military base. Citing US officials, the Wall Street Journal reports that two intermediate-range ballistic missiles were fired, per the AP. Britain condemned "Iran's reckless attacks" after the unsuccessful attempt to hit the base. It's unclear how close the missiles came to the island, which is about 2,500 miles from Iran. The US has described the Diego Garcia base as "an all but indispensable platform" for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia. and East Africa. Home to about 2,500 mostly American personnel, it has supported US military operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008, the US acknowledged it also had been used for clandestine rendition flights of terror suspects.
Last year, the US deployed several nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit bombers to Diego Garcia amid an intense airstrike campaign targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels. Britain initially refused to let the base be used for US-Israeli attacks on Iran, but after Iran lashed out at its neighbors, the UK said American bombers could use Diego Garcia and another British base to attack Iran's missile sites. On Friday, the British government said that includes sites being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The UK insists British bases can only be used for "specific and limited defensive operations."
But Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer "is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran." Iran currently has a self-imposed limit on its ballistic missile program, limiting their range to 1,240 miles; Diego Garcia is well outside that range. However, US officials long have alleged Iran's space program could allow it to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Diego Garcia is part of the Chagos Archipelago, a chain of more than 60 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean off the tip of India. The islands have been under British control since 1814, when they were ceded by France. In the 1960s and 1970s, Britain evicted as many as 2,000 people from Diego Garcia so the US military could build the base there. In recent years, criticism has mounted over Britain's control of the archipelago and the way it forcibly displaced the local population. The UN and the International Court of Justice have urged Britain to end its "colonial administration" of the islands and transfer sovereignty to Mauritius.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
