UK Media: If the US Escalates the Conflict, Iran Considers Attacking US Military Facilities in Europe

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 19 - British media reported on the 19th that Iranian officials are considering counterattack plans in response to the escalation of U.S. military actions, with options including attacking U.S. military targets in Europe and sabotaging the undersea fiber optic cables in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Financial Times, citing two informed sources within the Iranian government, reported that as the U.S.-Iran conflict reaches a stalemate, an increasing number of people within the Iranian government believe that the question is not whether the U.S. will resume large-scale military strikes against Iran, but rather when it will happen.

Officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the military have warned that if a new round of full-scale conflict breaks out between the U.S. and Iran, Iran will expand the battlefield from previously targeting U.S. military facilities in the Middle East, energy facilities in Gulf countries, and other infrastructure, to aiming at "more distant targets."

These two informed sources stated that "more distant targets" include U.S. military facilities in Southeast European countries such as Bulgaria, and may also affect Cyprus. Another potential target for attack is the undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz, which Gulf countries heavily rely on for transmitting cross-border data.

This photo, taken on June 20 in the northern Omani town of Haiseb, shows the current situation on the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz. Photo by Xinhua reporter Wen Xinnian

Last month, Bulgaria agreed to allow U.S. forces to deploy refueling aircraft at the Bezmer Air Base in its southeastern region. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that any military base used by the U.S. to attack Iran will be considered a legitimate target for Iranian strikes.

According to the Financial Times, theoretically, many areas in Europe are within the range of Iranian missiles. The U.S. Wall Street Journal reported in March, citing sources, that Iran fired two medium-range ballistic missiles at the Diego Garcia base, a "U.S.-UK joint military base" located in the central Indian Ocean, approximately 4,000 kilometers from Iran. Although these two missiles did not hit their targets, this action demonstrates Iran's willingness to strike U.S. military targets beyond the Middle East.

Siddharth Kausar, a researcher at the British think tank Royal United Services Institute, stated that the threat posed by Iranian missiles to Europe and other regions is "real but limited." Kausar noted that Iran could launch medium-range ballistic missiles such as the "Meteor" series at U.S. military facilities in Southern and Southeastern Europe, but these missiles have limited lethality at longer ranges. (Wang Hongbin)