Iran Launches Missiles Against US-UK Base 2,500 Miles Away, Raising Questions About Its Actual Long-Range Capabilities

Iran launched a pair of missiles at a joint U.S.-U.K. military base about 2,500 miles from the Middle Eastern country’s borders, raising questions that Iranian missiles are capable of reaching a greater range than previously thought.

The two Iranian intermediate-range ballistic missiles — which both missed — were aimed at Diego Garcia. That target was located double the distance from Iran than the range Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchiclaimed the country’s missiles were intentionally limited to in February, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported late Friday, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Diego Garcia is an island in the Chagos Archipelago — a British territory just over a thousand miles off the coast of India — which has functioned as shared U.S.-U.K. base since the Cold War.

One of the two Iranian missiles failed mid-flight while the other was fired upon by a U.S. warship, the WSJ reported, according to two of the officials. It was unclear if the missile which the warship fired at was ultimately intercepted, one official told the outlet.

The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control’s Iran Watch says Iran has missiles capable of reaching Diego Garcia, despite Araghchi’s statement that the country deliberately limited their range to about half that, the WSJ reported. The