Iran has developed long-range missiles capable of reaching major European cities, Israel has warned, after the targeting of the UK-US base on Diego Garcia.
Iran took aim at the military base on the Chagos Islands before the UK government gave the US permission to strike missile sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, but it is not clear exactly when the two intermediate-range ballistic missiles were fired.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it was the first time Tehran had launched a long-range missile since the start of the war, and showed it is now capable of reaching cities such as London, Paris or Berlin.
“We have been saying it: the Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat,” the IDF said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran has the capacity to reach “deep into Europe”.
He told reporters: “I’ve been warning all the time. They have now the capacity to reach deep into Europe.
“They already have fired on a European country, Cyprus. They are putting everyone in their sights.”
The Israeli military claimed the missiles could reach a distance of around 2,400 miles (4,000km), posing a danger to dozens of countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
With Iran “recklessly” attacking other countries in the Middle East, concerns are now mounting that the UK could become a legitimate target as the war shows no signs of abating.
How far can Iran’s missiles go?
Iran’s military capabilities are not fully known following the 12-day war last June, which saw Israel and the US target missile bases and launchers.
It had previously been thought by analysts that Iran’s longest-reaching weapon is the Khorramshahr 4 missile, which can potentially hit targets from 1,200 to 1,900 miles away.
Given that ballistic missiles have succeeded in being launched to the Chagos Islands, it is now feared that Iran is more capable than previously thought.
Sky News military analyst Sean Bell said: “All of a sudden, the UK is not far away either, so that’s the huge significance. At least Diego Garcia is well protected, London is not. The UK has no effective ballistic missile defence system in place, and therefore, this is a very worrying development for the UK.”
Danny Citrinowicz, a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies and a former Iran specialist in Israel’s military and intelligence services, said that it remains unclear how much missile capacity Iran has rebuilt.
“You can see through satellite imagery, attempts to restart manufacturing,” he said, adding that government leaks in Israeli media suggest that Israel assumes Iran still retains a substantial number of short-range ballistic missiles.
What has the UK said?
Housing secretary Steve Reed has insisted the UK is safe, despite the warnings that Iran has developed long-range missiles capable of reaching major European cities.
He told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “We have systems and defences in place that keep the United Kingdom safe, and that will continue to happen, but the prime minister has been crystal clear about this war.
“We didn’t join the war, we’re not going to be dragged into this war, but we will take necessary defensive action to protect British interests, British people, or our allies across the region.
Mr Reed said the fact that one of the missiles fired at Diego Garcia was intercepted, and the other failed, shows “that our defensive capabilities are correct”.
What have the experts said?
Before the weekend, when news of the attempted attack on Diego Garcia emerged, experts had said an Iranian attack on Britain was very unlikely, with Iran’s offensive capabilities not assessed as long-reaching enough.
However, on Saturday, Gen Sir Richard Barrons, former head of the UK’s Joint Forces Command, warned that Iran could hit targets much farther away than the international community realised.
He told BBC’s Today programme: “Previously we thought Iran’s missiles had a range of 2,000km and Diego [Garcia] is 3,800km (2,360 miles) from Iran.”
Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who now works for the Tel-Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, told The Times the missiles fired on Diego Garcia could have been a warning to the UK, but cast doubt on whether Tehran would target Europe.
He said: “It’s not that they think that tomorrow they will attack London or Paris, but I think that for them it’s another element that enables them to build the deterrence.”
