A UK government minister has said he is ‘not aware of any assessment at all’ that Iran could strike the UK,after Israel warned London was within the country’s missile range.
Last night,Tehran launched two ballistic missiles towards the strategically important base on Diego Garcia,a jointly owned base in the Chagos Islands 2,360 miles from Iran.
Neither missile hit its target in the attack,which was condemned by the Ministry of Defence as ‘reckless’ and a ‘threat to British interests and British allies’.
One is believed to have malfunctioned during flight,while the other was intercepted by an American warship before impact.
The attempted strike suggests advances in range that could eventually bring parts of Europe within reach.
But in an appearance on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg,Housing Secretary Steve Reed downplayed the threat.
He said: ‘I’m not aware of any assessment at all that they are even trying to target Europe,let alone that they could if they tried.
‘But even if they did,we have the necessary military capability to defend this country.’
Diego Garcia is a strategic base jointly owned by the UK and US – Click image to enlarge (Picture: Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Foreign Secretary condemned the strike stressing that the UK has ‘taken a different position from the US and Israel’ on the conflict.
Iran targeted Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands before the 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 Ministry of Defence declined to comment on when the attack was launched.
The Daily Mail reported that Iran could have used intermediate range ballistic missiles or a space launch vehicle to boost range.
Experts have also suggested Iran could have used a space launch vehicle to enable its ballistic missiles to reach Diego Garcia military base (Picture: Getty/IDM)
Eyal Zamir,the head of the IDF,said in a televised address that the weapon was capable of reaching European capitals.
‘Iran launched a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometres toward an American target on Diego Garcia island,’ Zamir said.
‘These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range reaches European capitals — Berlin,Paris,and Rome are all within direct threat range.’
Steve Prest,a retired Royal Navy commodore,told the Daily Mail: ‘Ballistic missiles are space rockets. They launch,they go really high up and they come down really fast. If you’ve got a space program,you’ve got a ballistic missile program.’
London is in the ‘edge of vulnerability’ of a missile attack (Picture: Daily Mail)
The attack on Diego Garcia happened a week after Israeli forces carried out a strike on Iran’s primary space research facility in Tehran,amid concerns it was being used to develop technology capable of targeting satellites in orbit.
Foreign affairs analyst Nawaf Al-Thani said missile threat is ‘no longer confined to the Gulf,Israel or parts of South Asia’,and key European capitals such as Paris would be in the included range. London is in the ‘edge of vulnerability’.
He said in a post on X: ‘For years,the accepted ceiling was around 2,000 kilometres. A ballistic missile reaching Diego Garcia suggests something in the neighbourhood of 4,000 kilometres,which pushes it out of the medium-range category and into the intermediate-range class (IRBM). That is a strategic leap.
‘If confirmed,Diego Garcia was not just a target. It was a message.’
If the Diego Garcia strike report is accurate,then one of the central assumptions about Iran’s missile program has just collapsed. For years,000 kilometers. A ballistic missile reaching Diego Garcia suggests something in the neighborhood of… pic.twitter.com/MxD16567NM
— Nawaf Al-Thani نواف بن مبارك آل ثاني (@NawafAlThani) March 21,2026
The strike comes just days after an Iranian missile hit a military base in the United Arab Emirates,which is home to US,UK and Australian troops.
Explosions were heard near the military base,which is used by Western nations as a transit hub within the region.
Meanwhile,Iran has said it will continue to stop shipping traffic from US and allied ships through the Strait of Hormuz,which is used to transport a fifth of the world’s oil supplies.
Brits were encouraged on Friday to work from home and use air fryers instead of ovens to lessen demand for energy.
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