Esmaeil Baghaei denies the long-range missile attack, which could change the calculus of the war for US allies. Published On 23 Mar 202623 Mar 2026Iran has denied targeting a joint military base of the United States and the United Kingdom on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia with missiles, dismissing the claim as an “Israeli false flag” attack.Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday the accusations reflected a pattern of “disinformation” after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance could not confirm Israel’s claim that the projectiles used were Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“That even the NATO Secretary General (who is infamously pressing Alliance members to appease the U.S. and support their illegal war on Iran) declines to endorse Israel’s most recent disinformation, speaks volumes: the world has grown thoroughly exhausted with these tired and discredited ‘false flag’ storylines,” Baghaei wrote on X.Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Rutte backed US President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, framing it as necessary and urging public support. “I’ve seen the polling, but I really hope the American people will be with him because he’s doing this to make the whole world safe,” he said.Earlier, US media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, said missiles were launched between Thursday night and Friday morning, but they failed to hit the Diego Garcia base.But if Iran was confirmed to be behind the attacks, it would mean that it possesses 4,000km-plus (about 2,500-mile) range ballistic missiles able to reach as far as the UK capital, London.Earlier this month, in an interview with the US broadcaster NBC, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, “We intentionally limited ourselves to below 2,000km [1,242 miles] of range because we don’t want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world.” Advertisement UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper slammed “reckless Iranian threats” but added that London would no …
