Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned that Iran has the ability to hit London with missiles, warning about the global threat coming from Tehran that should have more U.S. allies concerned.
While speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting alongside President Donald Trump, Hegseth warned about two missiles that Iran fired at the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Last Friday, the Indian Ocean island, which is about 4,000 kilometers from Iran, was attacked.
The UK government confirmed that both missiles missed their targets, but this has made people even more worried about the threat Iran could pose to Britain itself. The Israeli military has previously claimed that Iranian missiles could achieve a range of around 4,000km, placing numerous countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa at risk.
Without explicitly naming Diego Garcia, Hegseth said: “Two days ago, they [Iran] shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000km away. For years, they told the world that their missiles could only range [2,000] kilometres. Surprise. Yet again, Iran lies.”
He continued: “And to the world. I say London is 4,000km from Iran. Washington DC is 3,300km from Venezuela, another country President Trump did something about, which partnered for a long time with Iran. So you’re telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the US? President Trump knows better.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the war in the Middle East.
Officials indicated that Islamabad is being pushed as a possible place for the US and Iran to negotiate.
Pakistani sources said that Vice President JD Vance was being suggested as a possible chief negotiator for the US if talks went ahead.
Iranian sources say they will not meet with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, or Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who led the nuclear talks with Iran before the war.
Pakistani officials said that the US and Iran could meet in Islamabad this week to talk about ending the war, which started almost a month ago.
Sources say that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, is the most likely person to lead any talks from Iran’s side. Ghalibaf, on the other hand, has called reports of talks between the two sides “fake news.”
The leaders of Pakistan’s military have been trying to take the lead in any peace talks. The White House said that Asim Munir, the head of Pakistan’s army, talked to Donald Trump on Sunday about the war.
Sharif then spoke to the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Monday, where they “agreed on the urgent need for de-escalation, dialogue, and diplomacy,” according to an official readout.
Islamabad has yet to be officially confirmed as the venue for any talks, which neither side has formally agreed to so far. Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt have been touted as other venues, but sources said Tehran’s preference was Islamabad.
An Iranian diplomatic source said that talks were expected to happen this week, but they also said that Iran had “zero trust” in Washington and would not accept Witkoff and Kushner as negotiators for any talks.
When Trump started bombing Iran, the US and Iran were still talking about Iran’s nuclear program. The Iranian government now sees those talks, which were led by Witkoff and Kushner, as a way for the Trump administration to trick Iran into thinking it wanted a diplomatic solution when it really wanted to attack.
The source said the Iranian side viewed Vance as a more acceptable interlocutor.
Vance is widely viewed as a skeptic of the decision to entangle the US in a Middle East war and has largely kept quiet on the conflict.
“If the negotiations are going to have any outcome, JD Vance should join,” they said. “With Witkoff and Kushner, nothing will come out of it. We have seen that in the past.”