‘Baseless’: India rejects claims US used its ports to strike Iran

In an interview with One America News Network, former US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor claimed that the US was relying on Indian naval bases to launch operations against Iran amid the ongoing Middle East conflict.

Macgregor alleged that the US had been forced to depend on Indian facilities after its own bases were destroyed.

"All of our bases have been destroyed. Our harbour installations are destroyed. We are actually having to fall back on India and Indian ports, which is less than ideal; that is what the navy says," he claimed.

Rejecting the statement, India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a fact-check, stating that the claims were false.

"Claims being made on OAN, a US-based channel, that Indian ports are being used by the US Navy are fake and false. We caution you against such baseless and fabricated comments," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, India has expressed concern over the escalating tensions in the Middle East following the joint military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, urging all sides to exercise restraint and work towards de-escalation.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who had held the position since 1989, was reportedly killed in his office early Saturday during coordinated air strikes carried out by US and Israeli forces targeting Tehran.

US President Donald Trump confirmed that American forces had targeted and killed the 86-year-old cleric, describing him as “one of the most evil people in history” and urging Iranians to “take back their country.”

US and Israeli officials said the strikes were part of a broader military campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s ruling establishment and weakening its military and nuclear command structure.

Khamenei, who succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution, had been the country’s most powerful political and religious authority for more than three decades, shaping its domestic and foreign policies.

His reported killing marks a dramatic escalation in hostilities and has plunged the Middle East into deep uncertainty, raising fears of a wider regional conflict and political instability.