Iran launched two ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia on Friday in what US officials described as the first known attack of its kind on the joint UK-US military base in the Chagos Islands — striking just hours after Sir Keir Starmer authorised American forces to use the facility to target a fresh set of Iranian missile sites.
The attack, reported by the Wall Street Journal citing US officials, represents the greatest distance from which Iran has fired on a target since the conflict began under Operation Epic Fury. Neither missile struck the base. One is reported to have malfunctioned and failed during flight, while an American warship deployed an SM-3 interceptor missile against the second. Whether that interception was successful could not be confirmed, according to the Journal’s reporting.
The timing of the strike is significant. Starmer’s decision to permit US operations from Diego Garcia had been granted only hours earlier, making the base an immediate target for Iranian retaliation. The Chagos Islands facility, located in the Indian Ocean, serves as one of the most strategically important joint military installations operated by Britain and the United States in the region.
The attempted strike extends the geographic reach of the conflict considerably and signals Iran’s willingness and capability to target Western military infrastructure far beyond the immediate Middle East theatre. Diego Garcia hosts significant US military assets and has played a central role in American operations across the Indian Ocean and broader region for decades.
Further details about the nature of the missiles used or the precise circumstances of the intercept attempt have not been confirmed by either the US or UK governments at the time of publication.
