Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) are unloaded from a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in southwest England on March 15, 2026. Fairford is one of two bases, along with Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, that the United Kingdom has authorized the United States to use to conduct "specific defensive operations in Iran" aimed at destroying Iranian missiles at their source, the British Defense Minister said in a statement. Photo Henry NICHOLLS / AFP Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) are taken from a US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in south-west England on March 15, 2026. Fairford is one of two bases, along with the Diego Garcia facility in the Indian Ocean, that the UK has given the US permission to use for "specific defensive operations into Iran" to destroy Iranian missiles at source, the British defence minister said in a statement. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
Iran attempted “unsuccessfully” on Friday to strike the U.S.-British base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, about 4,000 kilometers from its territory, a British official source told AFP on Saturday.
According to the source, the failed attempt occurred before the British government announced Friday evening that the United States was authorized to use some of its bases to strike Iranian sites used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as part of already announced “defensive operations.”
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials, that Iran fired two ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia, but neither hit its target, one failed in flight and the other was intercepted by a missile fired from a U.S. warship.
Asked by AFP, the Pentagon declined to comment. Britain’s Ministry of Defence condemned “Iran’s irresponsible attacks,” saying they “constitute a threat to British interests and those of its allies.”
Located on a remote island in the Chagos archipelago, Diego Garcia is one of two bases the United Kingdom has allowed the United States to use for “specific defensive operations against Iran.” London confirmed Friday that U.S. forces could use it to strike Iranian sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz, a decision that Donald Trump said should have been made “much more quickly.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of “endangering British lives by authorizing the use” of the bases, adding that Iran “would exercise its right to self-defense.”
The Diego Garcia base is strategic for the United States, which stations nuclear submarines, bombers and destroyers there.
The United Kingdom signed an agreement in 2025 to return the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius while retaining a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia to maintain the base.
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