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The Times – Iran has the missiles to hit London, Israel claims

Two missiles launched by Iran at a British military base in Diego Garcia — believed to be the furthest Iran has fired — were a warning message to Europe, diplomatic and intelligence sources have told The Sunday Times.

Sir Keir Starmer condemned Iran for “lashing out” after Tehran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles towards Diego Garcia, the joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean located roughly as far from Iran as London or Paris.

The Israel Defence Forces confirmed that it was “the first time since the start of Operation Roaring Lion” that Iran had fired a missile that could reach a distance of about 2,500 miles (4,000km). “We have been saying it: the Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat … with missiles that can reach London, Paris or Berlin,” the IDF said.

It is not known for certain that Iran possesses a missile capable of reaching Diego Garcia. It is understood that the first missile was intercepted between Thursday night and Friday morning, before the UK expanded permission for its joint base in Diego Garcia, and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, to be used for “specific and limited defensive operations”.

The first missile was intercepted by a missile fired from a US warship, according to reports. The second fell after travelling 1,990 miles, some 400 miles from the US-UK outpost in the Chagos Islands, where about 100 UK personnel are based.

The UK had previously allowed US forces to use its bases only for defensive operations to prevent Iran from firing missiles that put British interests in the region at risk.

On Friday the UK went further by agreeing to allow the US to use British bases to launch strikes on Iranian sites which are being used to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial shipping channel. Downing Street insisted the basis of permission remained “collective self-defence”.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, accused the prime minister of “covering up” Iran’s unsuccessful attack on Diego Garcia by not informing the public sooner. “Keir Starmer has dithered and delayed on the Iran conflict from the outset,” she said.

The US military is not permitted to use RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus for the purpose of self-defence, including for the degrading of Iranian missile capabilities, Starmer confirmed after a call with the Cypriot president on Saturday.

Other developments:

• Iran’s ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz has been “degraded” by thousands of US strikes on sites used to store Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles and intelligence support sites, US Central Command said.
• Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the Natanz nuclear facility was attacked on Saturday morning. The IDF denied involvement in the strikes.
• Oil tankers shipping Iranian crude oil through the strait are broadcasting hidden codes to allow them to bypass Tehran’s maritime blockade.

Responding to the news that the US would be able to use some British bases, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi claimed Starmer was “putting British lives in danger”. President Trump said the UK “should have acted a lot faster”.

A former head of Israeli intelligence’s Iran desk told The Sunday Times that the strikes demonstrated unprecedented ballistic capability within Iran. Danny Citrinowicz, who works for the Tel-Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, said: “Today, it’s the missiles; tomorrow it could be nuclear. I think what is really worrying is that the Iranian leadership has no checks and balances right now.”

Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US and Israeli attacks on the first day of the war, did not want to give western countries any further reasons to pressure Iran to reduce its arsenal, Citrinowicz said.

“The Iranians limited themselves to 2,000 km not because of technological restraints, but because it was part of Khamenei’s policy to be very cautious in everything related to the firepower of Iran,” he added.

A diplomatic source said hitting Diego Garcia appeared not to be Iran’s objective — rather, the missiles were launched as a warning to the UK and European allies who have been indicating support for US and Israeli operations to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran wants Europe to stay out of the conflict,” the source said, adding that the missile appeared to be a type of weapon not previously known to be in Iran’s arsenal. Iran has threatened to use force against any country that allows use of its soil for American operations. “If the missile was launched from northern Iran, their range [could] cover all of Europe,” the source said.

RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire is about 2,700 miles from Tehran.

Citrinowicz agreed that the missiles could have been fired as a warning to the UK, but expressed doubt Tehran would target Europe even with the unpredictability of the new supreme leader, Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei. “It’s not that they think that tomorrow they will attack London or Paris, but I think that for them it’s another element that enables them to build the deterrence,” he said.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that he was considering “winding down” the war because the US was getting “very close” to completing its objectives, which have remained ambiguous since the war started three weeks ago.

It also emerged on Friday that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for deploying thousands of American troops to the region.

General Sir Richard Barrons, a former Joint Forces Commander, said on Saturday the US had to choose between announcing victory and stopping the war, or escalating it. “I don’t think anyone really conceives of an invasion and an occupation of Iran — it’s the size of western Europe — but they‘re going to be tempted perhaps to do raids on places like Kharg Island or to blockade,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

An assault on Kharg Island would threaten the regime’s main source of oil revenue.

Iranian news agencies reported US-Israeli air strikes on an empty passenger ship at the island on Saturday afternoon as well as strikes on a passenger terminal in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr.

The Ministry of Defence said: “Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies. RAF jets and other UK military assets are continuing to defend our people and personnel in the region.”

On Saturday, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, reiterated that the UK would only offer defensive support to the US, saying: “We will not be drawn into a wider conflict. We were not and continue not to be involved in offensive action, and we’ve taken a different view from the US and Israel on this.

“But we are supporting defensive action to support our interests. That includes recognising Iran’s escalating threats to international shipping, as well as their threats to our Gulf partners.”

Badenoch called on the government to “come clean” over the details of the attempted attack on Diego Garcia.

She said: “Now we find out, from the media and not the prime minister, that the British base on Diego Garcia has been the target of Iranian missile attacks.

“As we saw with Peter Mandelson, Starmer’s first instinct is always to cover up the truth. On Wednesday he attacked me at PMQs for calling for the proper defence of our bases, now we learn that as he did so our base in the Chagos Islands was being targeted by Iran.

“The prime minister needs to immediately come clean about the details of this latest attack on British troops and explain why the public weren’t informed sooner.”

At least 640 strikes were carried out across 17 Iranian provinces on Friday alone, resulting in at least 68 casualties, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Overall, more than 8,000 Iranian military targets have been struck, including 130 Iranian vessels, Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command said. Israel confirmed it had targeted ballistic missile production sites on Friday, “severely” harming the regime’s “ability to continue producing essential components”.

On Saturday night Israel’s emergency services said that they were responding to a “large number of casualties” after an Iranian missile strike in Arad, southern Israel. At least 84 people were wounded, of which ten were seriously injured.

The attack came hours after a strike on Dimona, also in the south, about 13km from the Negev Nuclear Research Centre. A total of 33 people needed hospital treatment, with a 10-year-old boy in serious condition.

The IDF is investigating the failure to intercept Dimona missile, The Times of Israel reported.

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Open – Iranian Airstrikes Cause $800 Million Damage to US Bases in Two Weeks: Report

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The Christian Post – Iran executes champion wrestler, 2 others found guilty of ‘waging war against God’

Iran executed champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi and two other men after convicting them of “waging war against God” in connection with the killing of two police officers during protests in January.

Nineteen-year-old Mohammadi and the other two men, identified as Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were hanged in Qom, south of Tehran, after being convicted of “moharebeh,” or waging war against God, a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic legal code, according to the non-profit Iran Human Rights.

Iran’s judiciary said the men were found guilty of involvement in the killing of two officers and of carrying out “operational actions” in favor of Israel and the United States, sources confirmed to CBS News.

The executions were the first hangings carried out by Iran in connection with nationwide demonstrations that began in late December over the rising cost of living and later turned into anti-government protests.

Rights groups said the three men were executed without a fair trial and after confessions were obtained under torture. There had been particular concern over Mohammadi’s case because of his age and status as an athlete.

Amnesty International said he was denied an adequate defense and forced to make confessions in fast-tracked proceedings that did not amount to a meaningful trial.

Dadban, an Iranian legal affairs monitor, also said the three men were denied effective access to independent counsel and the right to a defense.

The three men had been accused of using swords and knives to attack police officers attempting to subdue protests on Jan. 8, killing two of them, Washington Examiner reported, citing Iranian state media and other reports.

Mohammadi was arrested on Jan. 15, and Iran’s Supreme Court had recently upheld the death sentences of the three men, according to the Examiner, which noted that Iranian authorities frequently accuse dissidents of links to the United States and Israel.

The executions came a day after Iran hanged Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian-Swedish national, on charges of spying for Israel. Sweden and the European Union condemned the execution.

CBS said it was the first publicly announced execution of that type since Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and setting off a war that has spread across the Middle East.

Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, said it feared a surge in executions during the conflict. The group added that hundreds of people were facing charges linked to the protests that could result in death sentences and warned of the risk of mass executions of protesters and political prisoners in the shadow of war.

Iran’s hardline judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, has declared there will be no leniency for those convicted of violent acts during the protests.

Iranian authorities blamed the unrest on the United States and Israel. Tehran has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died in the violence, including members of the security forces and bystanders, and said the deaths were caused by what it described as terrorist acts.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported in February that it recorded more than 7,000 killings, while warning that the real toll could be far higher, along with tens of thousands of arrests.

Two senior officials in Iran’s Health Ministry told Time that as many as 30,000 people may have been killed on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 alone, though the magazine said it could not independently verify the figure.

Dr. Amir Parasta, a German-Iranian eye surgeon who compiled data from physicians and first responders, told Time that a hospital tally stood at 30,304 deaths as of Friday. He said that figure did not include protest-related deaths recorded at military hospitals or in places the inquiry did not reach.

According to witnesses, millions of people were in the streets when authorities shut down the internet and other communications, and rooftop snipers and trucks mounted with heavy machine guns opened fire. Images of bloodied bodies later reportedly emerged through banned Starlink satellite internet connections.

At least 1,500 people were hanged last year, according to Iran Human Rights.

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Jerusalem Post – Israel strikes across Iran, kills Basij intel. chief, IRGC spox. among others

The IDF killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Basij militia’s intelligence chief, Esmail Ahmadi, in a strike in central Tehran, the military announced on Friday.

Ahmadi was killed in the strikes that targeted other senior Basij militia members, including commander Gholamreza Soleimani and his deputy Seyyed Karishi, earlier this week.

The IDF announcement followed a series of Israeli strikes targeting the Iranian regime’s infrastructure across Tehran during the early morning hours on Friday.

IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini was later confirmed killed in the strikes.

Naini, who also served as the IRGC’s Public Relations Array chief, held several propaganda and public relations roles and served as the group’s “main propagandist” for the past two years, the IDF stated.

“In his role, Naini disseminated the regime’s terrorist propaganda to its proxies across the Middle East in order to influence and advance terror attacks against the State of Israel from the different fronts,” the IDF stated. “Naini’s elimination joins a series of eliminations of dozens of senior figures of the Iranian regime during the operation.”

A second wave of strikes targeted Nur, east of Tehran, the military confirmed on Friday afternoon.

The Friday operation also included two consecutive strikes on weapons production sites and ballistic missile launcher storage facilities located in Tehran, the military said.

“Overnight, the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, completed two waves of strikes in Tehran and in central Iran, during which dozens of military infrastructure belonging to the Iranian terror regime were struck,” the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF also confirmed on Friday the death of Mehdi Rastami Sh’mastan, a key commander in the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. Sh’mastan was killed in a Wednesday strike in Tehran.

“Sh’mastan was considered a key figure in promoting terrorist activities against Israeli and Jewish civilians around the world. In recent years, he was responsible for advancing and executing terror attacks against key Israeli targets,” the military said.

Israeli strikes burn vessels in Bandar-e Lengeh, IRGC-affiliated outlet claims
Video footage shared by N12 News appears to show explosions in the Iranian capital. The outlet also reported strikes in other cities, including Parchin, Kerman, Arak, and Bandar-e Lengeh. Additional footage shared by Israeli outlet appeared to show a Basij headquarters in Semnan being hit.

Some of these strikes were corroborated by Iranian media. At least 16 “commercial and civilian barges” belonging to Iranian civilians were burned in an “American-Zionist airstrike” on Bandar-e Lenger, the IRGC-affiliated outlet Tasnim News Agency claimed.

Also on Friday, reports indicated that a Thursday evening attack at a checkpoint in Tabriz killed 13 members of the IRGC’s Basij militia and injured 18 others.

Strikes across Iran on Thursday damage over 130 regime infrastructure sites
On Thursday night, the military stated that it had struck more than 130 infrastructure sites belonging to the Iranian regime.

The targets included ballistic missile sites, UAVs, and defense systems across Western and central Iran.

“The Israel Air Force continues to strike in western and central Iran to reduce to the fullest extent possible the scope of fire toward the State of Israel and to expand its aerial superiority over Iran,” the military said at the time.

Meanwhile, US Central Command on Thursday posted satellite imagery of the Karaj Surface-to-Surface Missile Plant, showing the damage caused after the US military conducted a strike on the facility on March 11, comparing it to earlier images of before the strike occured.

Additionally, the Human Rights Activists News Agency collated the casualties in Iran since operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury began on February 28.

At least 3,186 people have been killed in the three weeks of strikes, HRANA’s data showed, including 1,394 civilians, at least 210 of whom were children, 1,153 “military” fatalities, and 639 “unclassified” fatalities.

HRANA’s data did not distinguish between those killed in Israeli or US strikes.

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Onlinekhabar – Over 3,100 killed since war began in Iran: HRANA

Since the outbreak of the conflict, over 3,100 people have lost their lives in Iran.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has released a new update on the death toll in the country.

According to the agency, a total of 3,186 people have been killed since the war started on February 28.

HRANA reports that at least 1,394 of the dead are civilians, including a minimum of 210 children.

The agency also states that 1,153 military personnel have been killed, while an additional 639 fatalities remain unidentified.

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Gulf News – US‑Israel war on Iran, Day 21: UK to allow US to use bases against Iran attacks in Strait of Hormuz

Day 21 of the US‑Israel war with Iran sees the conflict spread beyond battle lines, with Israel’s heavy strikes on Iranian targets and Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks keeping the Gulf on edge. The UAE and other regional states have intercepted threats, while global energy markets feel pressure and fears of wider escalation grow.

 

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BBC News – Iranian strikes on bases used by US caused $800m in damage, new analysis shows

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The Times of Israel – Iran hangs three convicted of killing police during January protests, judiciary says

The hangings, the first officially announced executions related to regime’s deadly crackdown on demonstrators, come as Tehran vows to treat citizens as ‘enemies’ if they again rally against regime

Iran executed three people on Thursday convicted of killing police officers and carrying out operations in favor of the United States and Israel during unrest earlier this year, the judiciary said.

These appear to be the first officially announced executions linked to the mass anti-regime protests that broke out in Iran late last year. The demonstrations initially focused on the rising cost of living before morphing into nationwide anti-government rallies that peaked on January 8 and 9.

The protests were met with a deadly regime crackdown, with activist groups’ estimates of the total number of people killed reaching into the tens of thousands.

Facing pressure from US President Donald Trump, in mid-January, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of the many thousands arrested, “There is no plan for hanging.”

But after the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28, Iran warned of harsher consequences for protesters if demonstrations reignite. Israel and the US have called on Iranians to rise up against the regime.

“Three individuals convicted in the Dey (January) unrest, on charges of murder and operational actions in favor of the Zionist regime and the United States, were hanged this morning,” the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website said regarding Thursday’s executions.

The individuals were involved in the killing of two law enforcement personnel, Mizan said, adding that their execution was carried out after they were found guilty of the capital offense of “moharebeh,” or “waging war against God.”

Iranian authorities claim the protests began in late December as peaceful demonstrations before turning into “foreign-instigated riots” involving killings and vandalism.

Tehran has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, including members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, and has attributed the violence to “terrorist acts.”

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings, the vast majority of them protesters, while warning the toll could be far higher. US President Donald Trump has claimed the number is more than 35,000.

The regime’s attack on protesters came despite warnings from Trump. After the crackdown, Trump said he would intervene if Iran started executing protesters, and claimed that hundreds of planned executions had been called off due to his pressure.

The US and Israel later launched strikes on Iran after unsuccessful US-Iranian negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, sparking the current war.

Israel and the US have killed many of Iran’s senior security officers and political officials, and targeted members and infrastructure of the agencies that carried out the January crackdown. But Iran’s internal security services are believed to still be functioning, and have threatened to treat any further protesters as “enemies” amid the war.

“All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution,” national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said in comments aired by state broadcaster IRIB last week.

Iran has ​executed ​scores of ⁠people it has accused of links ​to Israel — which it frequently vows to destroy — and ​to the Mossad spy agency. One such execution was announced on Wednesday of someone detained during the June 2025 war between Israel and Iran. The previous officially announced execution of an alleged Israeli spy took place January 7.

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Barrons – Iran Hangs Three Men In First Executions Over January Protests

Iran executed three men on Thursday who were accused of killing police officers during protests in January, with activists warning of the risk of a new surge in hangings as war rages with Israel and the United States.

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BSS News – Iran hangs three convicted of killing police in recent unrest: judiciary

Iran executed three people on Thursday convicted of killing police officers and carrying out operations in favour of the United States and Israel during unrest earlier this year, the judiciary said.

These would be the first officially announced executions related to the protests which broke out in Iran late December against the rising cost of living before morphing into nationwide anti-government demonstrations that peaked on January 8 and 9.

“Three individuals convicted in the Dey (January) unrest, on charges of murder and operational actions in favour of the Zionist regime and the United States, were hanged this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said.

The individuals were involved in the killing of two law enforcement personnel, Mizan said, adding that their execution was carried out after they were found guilty of the capital offence of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”.

Iranian authorities said the protests began in late December as peaceful demonstrations before turning into “foreign-instigated riots” involving killings and vandalism.

Tehran has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, including members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, and attributed the violence to “terrorist acts”.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings, with the vast majority protesters, while warning the toll could be far higher.

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