Iran fired two ballistic missiles at a joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean just hours after Keir Starmer gave the green light for Donald Trump to use UK-based bombers threatening the Straits of Hormuz.
The move by the UK prompted Tehran to warn the Prime Minister he had placed British lives ‘in danger’ by consenting to Trump’s reques to use B-52s and other aircraft flying out of RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia to blast Iranian missile sites in the strategically important waterway.
In a statement the Government said that strikes were covered by its agreement with Trump to allow UK-based assets to be deployed in the ‘collective self-defence of the region’.
But Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi moved swiftly to say Iran would ‘exercise its right to self-defence’ if the UK joined US operations.
Posting on X, he said: ‘Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-US war of choice on Iran. Ignoring his own People, Mr Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran.’
Then a short while later the Diego Garcia joint base was targeted by two intermediate-range ballistic missiles, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Multiple US officials confirmed to the outlet that neither missile had struck the base. Two sources said one of the missiles failed in flight, while the other was intercepted by the US, but the action is a concerning development in the third week of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Diego Garcia lies around 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Iran and houses US bombers, nuclear submarines and missile destroyers.
It is located on the Chagos Islands, which in recent months has proven to be a source of contention between the UK and US ‘special relationship’.
The UK-US base plays a critical role in both countries’ ability to deter their adversaries and transatlantic defence. But last May, Labour signed over sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius in exchange for retaining full operational control of the base on an initial 99-year lease – a move that has been repeatedly blasted by Trump as ‘a blight on our Great Ally’ and ‘an act of great stupidity’.
For its part, the UK has repeatedly said that the deal does not ‘compromise’ British national security. It has yet to be signed off, meaning the isalnds currently remain as British territory.
The latest strikes undermine Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s previous exhortation that Tehran had a limited ballistic missile range to only 2,000 km (1,240 miles).
Prior to Iran’s move, Trump had told reporters on Friday that the US was considering ‘winding down’ military action.
The president added in his remarks that the US military was ‘getting very close’ to meeting its objectives in the war.
Reports of Iranian missiles targeting the Diego Garcia military base, pictured above, in the Indian Ocean surfaced on Friday evening
Donald Trump, pictured above speaking to reporters on Friday, accused the UK of being slow to lend the US their military base
The US houses bombers, nuclear submarines and missile destroyers on the base, pictured above
Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected the comments last month and claimed that Iran was ‘certainly trying to achieve intercontinental ballistic missiles,’ adding that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities were ‘headed in the pathway to one day being able to develop weapons that can reach the continental US.’
Trump blasted the UK government while speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday, accusing British leadership of a slow response to allow the US to use their bases.
‘It’s been a very late response from the UK. I’m surprised because the relationship is so good, but this has never happened before,’ he said.
Trump said that the UK initially did not want to allow the US to use its island for the Diego Garcia base.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, pictured above, previously told Parliament that the UK would ‘protect out people in the region’
Starmer had previously only allowed British bases to be used by the US when targeting Iranian missile launchers attacking the UK and its allies, and not for defending traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Prime Minister has stood firm that the country would not be dragged into the war in Iran.
‘We will protect our people in the region,’ Starmer told Parliament earlier this week.
‘We will take action to defend ourselves and our allies, and we will not be drawn into the wider war.’
The US and Israel have maintained that the main motivation for military action in Iran is to prevent the development of a nuclear weapon.
Trump accused the UK of not acting fast as military tensions escalated in the Middle East. The two are pictured above at a meeting in the UK last September
The Trump administration has projected confidence since the initial strikes, with the president declaring on Friday that he thinks ‘we’ve won.’
He added that he did not want to negotiate a ceasefire because the US was ‘literally obliterating the other side.’
Trump then accused Iran of ‘clogging up’ the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway on the north coast through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
‘The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated,’ Trump later wrote on Truth Social.
The president called out allies within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as ‘cowards’ for ‘complaining’ about high oil prices while refusing to lend military support to the US.
Iran’s strikes against Diego Garcia come as fears grew over the impact of the ‘Trumpflation’ spike in oil and gas prices that has been triggered by the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.
Brits were urged on Friday to consider working from home and use air fryers instead of ovens to reduce demand for energy, as the Cabinet ‘condemned Iran’s expansion of its targets to include international shipping’, a No 10 spokeswoman said.
‘They agreed that Iran’s reckless strikes, including on Red Ensign vessels and those of our close allies and Gulf partners, risked pushing the region further into crisis and worsening the economic impact being felt in the UK and around the world.
‘They confirmed that the agreement for the US to use UK bases in the collective self-defence of the region includes US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.’
A fifth of global oil supplies are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut since the start of the war.
That has steadily pushed oil prices higher, before a sharp rise on Thursday to nearly $118 after Iran threatened ‘full-scale economic war’ before striking Qatar’s main liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, which suffered ‘extensive further damage’.
The chief executive of QatarEnergy said the attacks on gas facilities would take between three and five years to repair.
Drivers have already been feeling the effects at UK pumps, and experts estimate that energy bills could go up by more than a fifth when the cap next changes in July.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon for comment.
