Iran launched unsuccessful attack on UK's Diego Garcia

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yljdgwppzo

Foreign secretary denounces 'reckless Iran threats' after missiles fired at Diego Garcia

Iran reportedly fired two ballistic missiles at Indian Ocean base, but neither reached the target.

The article kind of downplays the most interesting elements. Not an expert, but to my limited understanding:

* I think this is the longest-range use of a ballistic missile in anger, possibly ever?

* This seems to reveal previously-unknown range of Iranian ballistic missiles and, if true, could touch basically all of Europe?

> This seems to reveal previously-unknown range of Iranian ballistic missiles and, if true, could touch basically all of Europe

True but they have also literally launched multiple orbital satellites from iran on iranian rockets. Eg. The Noor 2 spy satellite and before that the Noor 1 series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noor_2_(satellite)

These are in orbit to this day. They regularly post images it takes of US military bases. Essentially it’s similar to how sputnik was a demonstration of icbm capability. Iran can launch a first generation ICBM right now. Pointless if they use a conventional payload (too small payload to be cost effective militarily) and a non manoeuvrable warhead (would just be intercepted) and so these aren’t used militarily but essentially everyone acting shocked they can hit 4000km range was not paying attention.

I think one of the problems we are having right now is that we have leaders who actively believed the downplaying of Irans military capabilities. It’s one thing for the common civilian to think the enemies missiles are made of cardboard and tanks of paper but it’s another when the leader of a nation believes it. Now here we are with a war that’s stalemated and no way out.

Noor 2 (satellite) - Wikipedia

The downplaying of Iran’s capabilities is a weird kind of racism IMHO. In the modern view, Iranians have been categorized as “brown” so people lump them together with Somalians and Afghans. But Iran is a technologically and politically sophisticated country. In terms of the Civ tech tree, it’s higher than any middle eastern country except Israel.

>Iranians have been categorized as “brown” so people lump them together with Somalians and Afghans.

Even from a racist perspective that's completely wrong; Iranians are white, the name "Iran" literally means "Land of the Aryans".