{"id":352206,"date":"2026-03-22T11:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/352206\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T11:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:26:07","slug":"iran-not-believed-to-have-capability-or-intent-to-bomb-britain-says-uk-minister-us-israel-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/352206\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran not believed to have capability or intent to bomb Britain, says UK minister | US-Israel war on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran is not believed to have the capability or intent to hit the UK with its missiles, a cabinet minister has said, after Tehran aimed two<\/a> at the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

One missile failed to reach the island, while another was shot down by a US warship, according to reports. It was the longest-range attack yet by Iran<\/a> since the country was attacked by the US and Israel.<\/p>\n

Asked about Israeli warnings that the UK and other parts of Europe could be targeted by Iranian missiles, Steve Reed<\/a>, the communities secretary, told BBC One\u2019s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: \u201cThere is no specific assessment that the Iranians are targeting the UK or [that they] even could if they wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n

On why Israel had issued such a warning, he said: \u201cYou would need to speak to the Israelis.\u201d Reed added: \u201cWhatever people might say, the UK is not going to be dragged into this war, but we will take appropriate collective defensive action to keep our nationals and our interests safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not aware of any assessment at all that they are even trying to target Europe, let alone that they could if they tried. But even if they did, we have the necessary military capability to defend this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the attack on Diego Garcia, which is part of the Chagos Islands<\/a> archipelago, more than 2,000 miles (3,200km) from Iran, Reed said one missile was intercepted and the other \u201cfell short\u201d, refusing to say how close to the base it had travelled.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer\u2019s government refused US requests to use UK airbases for the initial attack on Iran in late February, in part because ministers were warned it was likely to be in breach of international law.<\/p>\n

It has, however, since allowed the use of British bases for strikes on Iranian sites targeting British allies and interests in Gulf states. On Saturday, this scope was expanded<\/a> to allow attacks on missile launchers that were targeting commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Reed said the UK was seeking de-escalation and would not be pulled further into the conflict. \u201cIf you take the decision, as any British government should, that we will defend British people and British assets across the region, and the Iranians start targeting different assets, then of course, we have to respond to that and defend them as well. That doesn\u2019t take away one iota from our interest and focus on de-escalation,\u201d he told Sky News.<\/p>\n

Reed refused to comment on Donald Trump\u2019s threat that Tehran had 48 hours to reopen the strait of Hormuz<\/a> to shipping or face the destruction of Iran\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US president is perfectly capable of speaking for himself and defending what it is that he saying. Our position in the UK is absolutely clear as well. We\u2019re not going to be dragged into this war,\u201d Reed told Sky.<\/p>\n

Pressed on Trump\u2019s comments, he added: \u201cYou need to ask President Trump about the things that President Trump is talking about doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran is not believed to have the capability or intent to hit the UK with its missiles, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-352206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}