Iran may have used space launch vehicle to extend range of missiles fired at Diego Garcia

Iran may have used a space launch vehicle to aim ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia.

The British base in the Indian Ocean is almost 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) away. Iran previously limited the range of its ballistic missile program to 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers), but US officials have said Iran’s system for satellite launches could extend their range.

Iran’s Simorgh space launch vehicle could offer greater range “at the likely cost of terminal accuracy,” says Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think-tank.

“Ballistic missiles are space rockets. They launch, they go really high up and they come down really fast,” says Steve Prest, a retired Royal Navy commodore. “If you’ve got a space program, you’ve got a ballistic missile program.”

Prest says the launches were likely a message of defiance, to say “look what we can do,” in response to Trump’s claims that Iran’s military has been obliterated.