The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) or Chagos Islands (formerly the Oil Islands) is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia. The largest island is Diego Garcia (area 44 km squared), the site of a joint military facility of the United Kingdom and the United States. (Photo by: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Pictures From History | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Iran fired two missiles at the joint British-American Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean but they failed to reach their target, a U.K. minister said Sunday, confirming earlier reports of the number of projectiles.
“Our assessment is that the Iranians certainly targeted Diego Garcia. As we understand it, one missile fell short, failed. The other was intercepted and prevented,” U.K. Housing Secretary Steve Reed told BBC television.
Reed declined to say how far short the missiles fell.
“There is no specific assessment that the Iranians are targeting the U.K. or even could if they wanted to,” Reed added.
Iran targeted Diego Garcia with a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, Israel’s military said Saturday. This refers to missiles with at least two rocket engines, one allowing the missile to reach space, and the other propels it to its target, at a range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles).
“These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range extends to the capitals of Europe — Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said.
Infographic with map locating the Chagos Islands and the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia (Graphic by Lise KIENNEMANN and Valentina BRESCHI / AFP via Getty Images)
Lise Kiennemann | Afp Infographics | Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal first reported the attack on Friday, citing multiple U.S. officials.
The reported attack marked Iran’s first operational use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles and a significant attempt to reach far beyond the Middle East and threaten U.S. interests, the Wall Street Journal said.
“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement sent to CNBC on Saturday. “[Royal Air Force] jets and other U.K. military assets are continuing to defend our people and personnel in the region.”
The MoD said Iran’s unsuccessful targeting of the base happened before the U.K. approved, a day earlier, the use of its bases by U.S. forces for defensive operations.
The U.K. has given the U.S. permission to use its bases at RAF Fairford in England and at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands for “specific and limited defensive operations,” the MoD said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said Friday that ministers had approved U.S. forces’ use of British bases to defend the region, including “U.S. defensive operations to degrade missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Reuters quoted Iran’s representative to the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization, Ali Mousavi, as saying on Sunday the Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies.”
Targeting Iran’s power plants
U.S. President Donald Trump late Saturday threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, as the war escalated in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week.
“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The dramatic reversal came barely a day after Trump talked about “winding down” the war.
In a Truth Social post on Friday, the president claimed that the U.S. is “getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East.”
Trump had also told reporters that he is not interested in a ceasefire with Iran.
“We could have dialogue, but I don’t want to do a ceasefire,” Trump said from the White House South Lawn before departing for Florida. “You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.”
“They don’t have a navy. They don’t have an air force. They don’t have any equipment,” Trump continued.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf promised on Sunday to target regional energy facilities if his country’s power plants are hit.
“Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
Hours after Trump’s remarks, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz countered that Israeli attacks against Iran will “increase significantly” in the coming week.
Trump issued his stark warning as Iran and Israel traded strikes targeting nuclear facilities.
Dozens of people were injured after Iran struck two communities near Israel’s main nuclear research site. The Israeli military said its defenses were not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad.
Initial footage from the scene in Arad showed a bus with its windows blown out and heavy damage to several buildings, and dozens of firefighters and police responding to two separate impact sites. Israel’s rescue services said four people were seriously injured, including a 4-year-old girl, and 29 were lightly injured. Authorities are still looking for several people who are unaccounted for.
It marked the first time in the war that Israel’s nuclear research center was targeted.
Israel’s secretive nuclear reactor is about 13 kilometers southeast of Dimona. Both cities lie near several military sites, including Nevatim Air Base, one of the country’s largest.
U.S. allows sale of Iran oil at sea
The war, which began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Iranian targets, has effectively choked off the narrow and economically crucial Strait of Hormuz, which separates Iran from the United Arab Emirates.
Around one-fifth of the world’s oil transits the Strait. Daily transit calls have tumbled to nearly zero from highs above 120 seen earlier this year, according to data analyzed by Charles Schwab. Much of the crude from the Gulf usually heads to Asia.
Benchmark Brent crude oil futures for May rose 3.26% to $112.19 a barrel on Friday, its highest close since July 2022. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for April settled 2.27% higher at $98.32 a barrel.
The Trump administration’s latest attempt to ease prices came late Friday, when it waived sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil at sea for 30 days. The move is expected to bring 140 billion barrels of oil to global markets, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on X.
The Group of Seven countries are ready to take necessary measures to support global energy supplies, its foreign ministers said in a statement. They also reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime routes, including in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We … express support to our partners in the region in the face of the unjustifiable attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies,” the ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the top EU diplomat, the statement said.
— Reuters contributed to this report