Iran conflict 2026: US defence secretary adds to reports of +2000 km range Iranian missiles

Two Khorramshahr ballistic missiles featured in the 21 September 2019 parade in Tehran, one with a previously unseen and smaller re-entry vehicle (left). (Fars News Agency/Student News Network)

US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth has said that Iran has ballistic missiles capable of ranges greater than its claimed 2,000 km limits.

“I saw a 4,000 km-range missile being shot at Diego Garcia,” he said during a 30 April 2026 Senate committee hearing on his department's budget.

The joint US-UK base on the Indian Ocean island is about 3,800 km from the nearest Iranian territory.

Hegseth used his claim to back up what he said was Iranian officials lying about the ranges of some of their missiles.

On 21 March the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed reports of a 20 March ballistic missile launch toward the Diego Garcia joint US-UK base; UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey issued a separate confirmation on 23 March.

In an interview with NBC News on 5 March 2026 Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi repeated a longstanding claim by Tehran that “we have intentionally kept the range of our missiles below 2000 km.”

Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency on 21 March cited the Wall Street Journal 's reporting that Iranian forces had fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the Diego-Garcia joint US-UK base. The agancy added that “Iran's targeting of Diego Garcia, about 4,000 kilometres away from Iran, implies its missiles have a greater range than Tehran has previously announced. “