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 Araghchi claimed 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 Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, meanwhile, asserted Iran’s missiles currently top out at a range of about 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles), but acknowledged reports the Islamic theocracy is working on developing missiles that can reach longer distances, the WSJ reported.
The U.S. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia (NSF Diego Garcia) was unable to be reached for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The tropical Indian Ocean island’s U.S. military presence includes “Navy and Air Force personnel assigned here to carry out the Island’s mission: ‘To maintain and operate facilities and provide services and materials in support of afloat units, operating forces on forward deployment, and tenant shore activities,’” according to the NSF Diego Garcia’s website.
About 280 U.S. Navy personnel, 40 U.S. Air Force personnel, and 40 British troops are on the island, the website also states.
The reported missile launch took place about three weeks after the Feb. 28 start of Operation Epic Fury, when the U.S. — alongside Israel — launched targeted strikes against Iran to great effect, including killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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