Diego Garcia, a sprawling military HQ in the Indian Ocean, has been identified as a pressure point by Iran after the UK allowed the US to use its Middle Eastern bases in its war
Iran fired missiles at Diego Garcia, the UK’s controversial island military base it shares with the US, in a 2,000-mile attempted overnight raid, officials have confirmed.
The Middle Eastern nation let loose two intermediate-range ballistic missiles aimed at the Indian Ocean base, which is 2,500 miles away, overnight on Friday. One of the missiles failed mid-air, while another was downed by a US warship, which fired an SM-3 Interceptor at the second missile.
While it may have failed, the attempted raid – which came after the UK allowed the US to use its bases to attack Iran – has yet again spotlighted the base, which has become a flashpoint in UK-US relations since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.
READ MORE: Iran war LIVE: Missiles ‘fired at UK-US base’ amid warning ‘Brits at risk’READ MORE: Iran warns British lives put ‘in danger’ after Starmer says US can use military bases
Personnel
Diego Garcia is a remote British Overseas Territory that is off-limits to most civilians, and has been wrapped in secrets for decades since it was established in 1960. It is administered from London, but most of its personnel and resources are administered by US officials.
Despite its strategice importance, only a few hundred military personnel are stationed on the base full time, split across the US Air Force, US Navy, and British forces.
Total personnel number at 360, the bulk of which come from the USN and USAF – which consist of 280 and 40 people respectively – while there are 40 “Brit Forces” personnel. The UK has historically kept “a very limited number of British military personnel” on the base, and rarely changes these numbers.
The civilian population is far higher, with US base operational personnel numbering at around 1,800, overseas government employees at around 80, and mariners at around 300.
Weaponry and equipment
While it is relatively sparse in terms of total personnel, the island is bristling with military capabilities, again primarily American and serving the US military.
Extensive runways are built to support US B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers, reconnaissance aircraft and transport planes. Additional supporting structures include radar installations and control towers, with massive storage capabilities mounted on a deep water port capable of docking, resupplying and maintaining naval vessels travelling through the area.
All of this considered, the base is used more as a launchpad, and has played pivotal roles in previous collaborative conflicts like the 1991 Gulf War and Iraq War in 2003.
More recently, US forces used Diego Garcia as a base of operations to launch attacks against the Houthis in Yemen, cementing its modern-day use. As the figures show, the base is skewed heavily towards the US, which is set to continue to use the island as the UK seeks a lease deal.
The Diego Garcia handover row
The Government struck a £3.4 billion deal with the US soon after Keir Starmer arrived at Number 10 that would see the country lease the base to Mauritius.
The lease agreement would give the East African nation sovreignity over the island for 99 years, costing around £101 million per year. US officials, including Donald Trump, agreed the deal secured longterm security for the island, despite sideline snipes from the Conservatives and Reform UK claiming otherwise.
The US backed the deal again in February, but Trump has been characteristically hot-and-cold on the topic, at one point blasting it an “act of GREAT STUPIDITY”, before saying it was the “best” the Prime Minister could make.
He has since called the deal “tenuous at best”, with his flip-flopping leaving the agreement in limbo and Mauritius exploring legal options to force its passage. Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told local media he is pursuing the action after the issue left his nation with a £160 million budget hole.
He said: “We are exploring legal avenues in the Chagos case. “We are exploring all possible avenues, but clearly the 2026-27 budget will not be an easy one.”
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