Iran-US war live: Two ballistic missiles fired at UK’s Diego Garcia base in Chagos Islands – UK Times

Two Irishmen and an Englishman go to Brussels.

That isn’t the start of a joke: it’s what happened on Thursday this week, at the annual Airlines for Europe summit in the Belgian capital.

The Irishmen each have decades of experience in aviation: Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), and former boss of British Airways, has been in the industry for 47 years.

Michael O’Leary transformed a small and failing Irish airline called Ryanair into Europe’s biggest budget carrier, and has spent 32 years as CEO.

Read the full article from our travel correspondent Simon Calder here:

The U.S. and Israel reportedly launched an attack on the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility on Saturday morning, Iran’s Tasnim news agency claimed.

No radioactive leaks occurred and residents near the site were not at risk, Tasnim added.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says it has clashed with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, killing four people.

An IDF spokesperson, Avichai Adraee, said that there were no Israeli casualties.

On Friday night, forces spotted several Hezbollah operatives with one person killed, while Israeli Air Force aircraft targeted other members who opened fire.

Three more people were killed with tank fire.

The Air Force also carried out strikes against Hezbollah headquarters in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) rebuilt Hezbollah’s military command after it was mauled by Israel in 2024, plugging gaps with Iranian officers before restructuring the Lebanese group and laying plans for the war it is now waging in support of Tehran, two people familiar with these IRGC activities said.

The overhaul was the first of its kind for Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim group founded by the IRGC in 1982, pointing to a hands-on approach after the blows of the 2024 war, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders.

Iran’s investment paid off, getting Hezbollah back on its feet in time to enter the war in the Middle East on Tehran’s side after it was attacked by the United States and Israel.

Reuters reported earlier in March that Hezbollah had seen another war as inevitable and spent months readying itself. This article sheds light on the IRGC’s role in these preparations, based on accounts from six sources who spoke on condition of anonymity as well as an expert on Hezbollah.

The IRGC, deeply involved in Hezbollah since it was established, sent officers to retrain its fighters and oversee rearmament, the two sources familiar with IRGC activities said.

In a conversation with Labour MP John McDonnell and General Sir Richard Barrons, Today programme Nick Robinson said that the missiles launched towards Diego Garcia would prove Iran are “dramatically more capable” than previously suspected.

It had been believed that Iran only had ballistic missiles with 2,000km range, with the UK-US base in the Chagos Islands being 3,800km away in the Indian Ocean.

Despite its small size, the island holds around 94 per cent of the country’s crude oil for export, mostly bound for China, and its main oil export terminal.

It has now been reported that Donald Trump is considering putting American troops on the ground in Iran to seize the key oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.

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One of the missiles fired towards Diego Garcia was shot down by a US warship, while the other failed in flight, the Wall Street Journal newspaper said, citing multiple officials.

Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, is around 3,800km (2,360 miles) away from Iran and home to an airbase capable of accommodating long-range US bombers.

The UK has agreed to cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius and lease back the base.

On 28 February the US and Israel launched surprise air strikes on Iran. Tehran retaliated by attacking key infrastructure in the Gulf nations, including airports and hotels.

Much of the airspace in the region remains closed, disrupting the plans of millions of travellers. The Foreign Office has placed the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait on its no-go list.

Simon Calder has answered dozens of readers’ questions about the impact on their travel plans – from short-term needs to return home, to the long-term implications for travellers.

These 11 questions, some of which have been updated from previously published content, cover the main issues of concern to travellers.

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