After Trump's warning, Iran threatens to attack US-UK base at Chagos Islands

Within hours of US President Donald Trump’s warning, Iran on Sunday threatened to attack the US-UK military base at the Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier in the day, Trump had warned Iran that it would be bombed like never before if it would not reach a deal with the United States regarding its nuclear programme. In his first term in 2018, he had exited the United States out of a deal reached by the previous Barak Obama administration in 2015. The US withdrawal prompted Iran to quit the deal as well and ramp up its nuclear programme. Currently, it’s believed to be at the brink of developing weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

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Trump on Sunday warned that Iran will be hit with “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” if no deal is reached. Earlier this month, he said he had sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to start negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear programme. While Iran has maintained its nuclear programme is entirely civilian, it has so far not accepted Trump's offer for talks publicly.

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Iran’s threat in response to Trump’s warning

Just hours after Trump warned Iran, a senior Iranian official as well as Iranian state media said the regime would attack the US-UK military base at Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean in response to any US attack.

The Diego Garcia is the largest island in the Chagos Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The United Kingdon maintains a military base on the island that the British and US militaries jointly operate. Lately, the Trump administration has deployed long-range bombers to the base in the wake of rising tensions in West Asia.

A senior Iranian official told The Daily Telegraph that “there will be no distinction in targeting British or American forces if Iran is attacked from any base in the region”.

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The official further said, “When the time comes, it won’t matter whether you’re an American, British, or Turkish soldier — you will be targeted if your base is used by Americans.”

Separately, Iranian state media reported that the regime would attack the Diego Garcia base with ballistic missiles and suicide drones in response to any “hostile action” by the United States. It mentioned newer versions of Khorramshahr missile and Shahed drones as weapons that could be used in such attacks.

The Iranian state media also said that other US and British facilities in the region could also be attacked, such as a naval base in Bahrain.

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A British government spokesperson condemned Iran’s threat and said it looked forward to de-escalation of tensions, according to The Telegraph.

‘Very bad’ things will happen if Iran refuses a deal, warns Trump

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly warned Iran of consequences of not making a deal.

Last week, Trump said that “very bad things will happen” if Iran would not reach a nuclear deal with the United States.

“I sent them a letter just recently, and I said: you have to make a decision, one way or the other, and we either have to talk and talk it out or very bad things are going to happen to Iran. I don’t want that to happen. My big preference — and I don’t say this through strength or weakness – my big preference is, we work it out with Iran. But if we don’t work it out, bad, bad things are going to happen to Iran,” said Trump.

Earlier this month, Trump said in an interview that he had sent a letter to Khamenei regarding talks for a nuclear deal and warned that Iran had to be prevented “one way or another” from developing a nuclear weapon.

“I would rather negotiate a deal. I’m not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily, but the time is happening now — the time is coming up. Something’s going to happen one way or the other. We have to do something because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” said Trump in an interview with Fox Business.