President Donald Trump is right that the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia needs saving. But he has been misled about the threat and the best available solution. Even worse, Trump might be running out of time to secure a favorable deal over the base’s future. There are only a few weeks left for his administration to safeguard U.S. interests for decades to come.
Diego Garcia appears in the news headlines like clockwork whenever there is an American war in the Middle East. Usually this is because of the island’s role in supporting long-range bombing missions—whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Iran. Amid the present Israeli-U.S. war against Tehran, however, Diego Garcia has made headlines for two new reasons.
The first is that Diego Garcia came under direct fire from Iran. At least, media reports suggest that two ballistic missiles were fired at the island, which is around 3,300 miles from the Strait of Hormuz. One missile is said to have “failed in flight” while the other was likely intercepted by the U.S. military. Tehran denied the attack.
If the story is true, it would be the only time in modern history that Diego Garcia has come under direct enemy fire. The island’s unparalleled seclusion in the central Indian Ocean—thousands of miles away from continental Africa, Asia, and Australasia—is typically regarded as making it impregnable, a primary reason why the Pentagon values Diego Garcia so highly.
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