Iran blasts Israel with ‘false flag’ accusation after alleged missile chaos at Diego Garcia, even NATO won’t back the story

Iran has outright denied targeting a joint US and UK military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia with missiles, calling the accusation an “Israeli false flag” attack, as reported by Al Jazeera. This denial comes after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated the alliance couldn’t confirm Israel’s claim that any projectiles used were Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took to X on Monday to express his frustration. He pointed out that even Rutte, who often pushes NATO members to support the US’s actions against Iran, declined to back Israel’s latest “disinformation.” Baghaei felt this really shows how tired the world has become of these old, discredited “false flag” stories. It’s pretty telling when even a key NATO figure can’t get behind the narrative.

The initial claims, reported by US media outlets, suggested that missiles were launched between Thursday night and Friday morning, but thankfully, they failed to hit the Diego Garcia base. Israel’s military chief, Eyal Zamir, specifically claimed that Iran used a “two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000km” to target the base. This would mean Iran possesses ballistic missiles capable of reaching as far as London, the UK capital, which is over 4,000km away.

However, Iran has previously stated its missile capabilities are intentionally limited

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a US broadcaster that Iran had “intentionally limited ourselves to below 2,000km of range because we don’t want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world.” This directly contradicts the range Israel is claiming for the alleged attack.

The UK also seems to be approaching these claims with caution. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper did condemn “reckless Iranian threats” but made it clear that London wouldn’t be drawn into a wider conflict in the Middle East. Similarly, British Housing Secretary Steve Reed commented that the UK had no indication Iran either intended to or even could reach the country with its missiles.

The Diego Garcia airbase is a pretty significant spot, home to nearly 2,500 mostly American personnel. It has played a crucial role in US military operations for a long time, from the Vietnam War all the way to recent strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

This whole situation plays into a much larger, ongoing tension between the US, Israel, and Iran. Israel, a close US ally, has consistently argued that Iran’s missile and nuclear programs pose a serious threat, and they’ve been pushing the US to intervene militarily for decades. Past US administrations, though, generally resisted direct military action, opting instead for broad sanctions on Tehran to try and deter nuclear weapons development.

In a recent development, President Trump’s “war on Iran” received public backing from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who told CBS News that he hoped the American people would support the president, saying, “he’s doing this to make the whole world safe.”

This statement follows a recent attack about three weeks ago where the US and Israel attacked Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This attack occurred despite Oman, which was mediating talks between Washington and Tehran, saying that a deal had been “within reach.“