Attack on Diego Garcia: Iranian Missile or Israeli False Flag?
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TEL AVIV – The joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean was reportedly targeted in a missile attack. Israel claims the missiles were fired by Iran, while Tehran denies the allegations.
An attempt to target the joint Diego Garcia military base with ballistic missiles was reported to have occurred between Thursday night and Friday morning, according to US media. The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that one of the missiles failed mid-flight, while the others were intercepted by US missiles launched from a warship.
This incident occurred just hours before British ministers gathered in London to discuss the Iran war. At that meeting, the UK agreed to allow the US to use its military bases for collective self-defence, such as attacking Iranian missile sites used in assaults on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
British officials provided no details regarding the attack attempt on Diego Garcia. The Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of War, has also not issued an official statement on the missiles targeting Diego Garcia hours after the attack.
The claim that Iran carried out the attack initially came officially from Israeli military commander Eyal Zamir. He stated that Iran used a “two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 km” to target the US-UK base on Diego Garcia. In a video statement, Zamir said: “These missiles are not intended to attack Israel. Their range reaches the capitals of Europe. Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the Diego Garcia attack as a reason to call on all world leaders to combat Iran.
“They fired intercontinental ballistic missiles towards Diego Garcia. The distance is 4,000 kilometres. I have warned that they now have the capacity to reach far into Europe,” he said while visiting an Iranian attack site in Israel. “They have attacked European countries – Cyprus. They have put everyone in their range.”
A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Tehran is not responsible for the missile launch.
Earlier this month, in an interview with US television station NBC, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected US President Donald Trump’s statement that Tehran has developed missiles capable of reaching US territory.
“You know, we have the capability to produce missiles, but we deliberately limit our range to under 2,000 km because we do not want to be seen as a threat to anyone in the world,” Araghchi said on 8 March.
On the contrary, Israel is known to possess such capabilities. The Zionist entity is known to have the Jericho 3, a three-stage intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) or intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with solid fuel, which began production around 2011. This missile is designed for nuclear delivery with a range of 4,800–6,500 km, capable of striking targets throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The distance from Israel to Diego Garcia is 4,500 to 5,000 km. This means the island could be reached by Jericho 3 from Israel.