Iran targets Diego Garcia
A report Saturday says Iran launched a couple of weapons at Diego Garcia, our joint base with the UK in the Chagos Islands, 2400 miles from Iran. The missiles thought to have been used may have been Khorramshahr-4 rockets, which typically carry up to 80 cluster-bomb warheads (theoretically gas or nuclear warheads instead, but as of now they are not thought to possess either.) One of the missiles was intercepted en route by an unnamed US ship, the other failed on its own (yeah, there’s a joke there. )
The Telegraph spends most of the article getting excited that DG, 2,400 miles away from Iran, was targeted, but does calm down to admit that lobbing a missile at a target that far away and HITTING a target that far away are two very different things.
Most experts think the Khorramshahr-4 has a maximum range of around 1,900 miles.
This would put it in range of UK and other military bases in southern and eastern Europe, including Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, the Balkans and perhaps even Italy, Austria and Germany.
The IDF claimed on Saturday that a range of 2,500 miles may be possible. This would put parts of Britain in range.
“Regarding the ultra-long range of Iranian Khorramshahr, keep in mind that the ‘father’ of the dynasty, the Soviet R-27, even with less propellant, has a range of 3,000km.”
Which is still less than 2,000 miles, if my trusty .62:1 ratio still works?
“It’s also about guidance and control, which is a considerably more challenging task for such a long range. And also there are some obstacles in terms of extreme heat as regards to the re-entry vehicle.”
Nevertheless, the attempted missile attack on Diego Garcia will raise questions about the UK’s preparedness to fend off Iranian strikes on British bases around the world as the war drags on. The Telegraph
There’s a bit more discussion about various Iranian weapons and their capabilities at the linked article.
The heavily censored Telegram platform is more of a Russian mouth piece.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-us-israel-war-updates-2026/card/iran-targeted-diego-garcia-base-with-ballistic-missiles-rb7MdZW1CfwRTauDYHOt
Allegedly two missiles were fired, one breaking up in flight and the other being shot down by an SM3. This would be the first properly intended use of the SM3 since the program began.
The whole thing is curious because Iran has claimed for years that they had kept their capabilities below 2000km because they didn’t consider Europe to be a threat. This was clearly untrue.
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/irans-foreign-minister-rejects-calls-ceasefire-continue-fighting-rcna262291
It appears they may have used Ghaem-100 which has a range of 4000km but isn’t designed for reentry. It was built with Obama bucks and designed as a space launch vehicle. It completed it’s first placing of a satellite in space in January 2024.
It is designed for space launch but the question was always; could it be used in another way? Apparently the answer is yes but like most things Iran builds, not very well.
Only makes sense to adapt a space-launch vehicle into a weapon. Our space program essentially was created adapting weapons into space vehicles.
Why anyone is surprised by this is beyond me. Iran has always been trying to increase their power and influence. In addition to that, a delivery system for the nuke they openly admitted to trying to create is necessary to maintain a true buffer zone from anyone trying to eliminate that threat. If you can’t threaten the countries in the West who disagree with you then you really don’t have as much influence as you want. If you can believably state you can target their home country with a ballistic missile then you carry far more influence to keep them from stopping you in whatever you want to do. In plain English, it’s just another way to hold a country hostage.