TEHRAN, March 23. /TASS/. Even NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte cannot confirm the Israeli authorities’ reports that Iran launched intercontinental ballistic missiles at the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia; this is yet another story about a "false flag" operation, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.
"[The fact] that even the NATO Secretary General (who is infamously pressing alliance members to appease the US and support their illegal war Iran) declines to endorse Israel's most recent disinformation, speaks volumes: the world has grown thoroughly exhausted with these tired and discredited ‘false flag’ storylines," the diplomat wrote on his X page, citing Rutte’s statement that NATO cannot confirm the Israeli authorities’ claim that Iran struck Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
According to the alliance’s secretary general, Israel’s claim that Iran possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles requires further verification.
On March 21, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that Tehran had launched two ballistic missiles toward the base on Diego Garcia. IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Iran launched a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometers toward the island, which he said was "capable of reaching Berlin, Paris, and Rome."
The UK Defense Ministry neither confirmed nor denied reports of the missile launch toward Diego Garcia, the BBC reported. According to The Wall Street Journal, the missiles did not reach their target.