Iran threatens to strike Europe's US bases: Britain puts nuclear bases under commando guard | Gravitas

An uneasy calm hangs over West Asia as a deal between the US and Iran remains elusive, with US President Donald Trump still contemplating his next step. A top Iranian official issued a chilling warning to America. In the scenario of America restarting strikes, Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened to strike US military bases as far as Europe, which haven’t been targeted so far. Remember, Iran’s retaliation has been restricted to US bases in West Asia until now.

This is not all. While the US has been insisting on talks regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, Rezaei ruled out sending even a tiny amount of the enriched material outside Iran. But does Iran have the capability to strike Europe? According to US estimates, Iran has the largest stockpile of ballistic missiles in West Asia. For years, though, the country claimed to have limited the range of its ballistic missiles to 2,000 kilometres. Thus, most of US military bases in West Asia come under the striking range of its missiles.

At the peak of the war, Iran used the Khorramshahr and Sejjil missiles, which can strike targets close to 2,000 kilometres away. If we look at the other missiles in its arsenal, Emad and Ghadr-1 also stand out, as they have a range of 1,700 kilometres.

This is not all. It has a range of medium-range missiles as well. For instance, the Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile can carry up to 550 kilograms of warheads and strike targets over 1,400 kilometres away. It also has a powerful short-range missile in Dezful.

But in March this year, UK made a sensational charge. It asserted that two Iranian missiles were launched in the direction of the joint U.S.-UK base of Diego Garcia. While one reportedly fell short of its target, the other was shot down. While Tehran denied this claim, this raised alarm bells, as Diego Garcia is about 4,000 kilometres away from Iran. This means that if Iran did conduct the attack, it would put most of Europe in missile range as well.

Iran has hardened its stance now. Last week, IRGC announced that it had lifted its self-imposed 2,000 kilometre limit on the range of its missiles. This came days after Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned that any kind of threat from the U.S. and Israel would be met with a response unlimited by geography.

Amid the Iranian threat, a new report claimed that commandos are forming a ring of steel around sensitive military and nuclear bases in UK. According to reports, elite Royal Marines responsible for protecting the UK’s top-secret sites have been deployed to repel possible drone attacks by Iranian agents. The concern is that drones could trigger a huge explosion simply by landing on the wing of an aircraft.

The report claimed that this threat prompted the recent U.S. move to remove several aircraft from the UK’s RAF Mildenhall base. Now, security has reportedly been beefed up at the Faslane base, which is home to the UK’s fleet of nuclear submarines, and the Coulport base, which is used for the storage of nuclear warheads.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also had to reportedly shift to a military base from his home in Washington due to threats from Iran. Bessent has been leading the campaign to financially cripple Iran by enhancing sanctions. Amid this, Iran is demanding compensation for environmental damage caused by US and Israeli strikes. It said that the issue pertained to global efforts to fight climate change.

What is Trump’s game plan, though? While he is banking on a diplomatic breakthrough, the U.S. president again hinted at fresh strikes on Iran, by saying that America is not content with a 93% victory.