How Tehran’s missiles can reach deep inside Europe amid warnings sleeper terror cells are ready to unleash chaos – as EU officials struggle to agree on Middle East war

Fears are growing over Iran’s ability to strike deep inside Europe with suicide drones and missiles amid warnings that terror sleeper cells could unleash chaos across the continent at any moment.  

The war in the Middle East intensified on Monday, with attacks from Iran and Iranian-backed militias hitting Israel and the Arab states. 

Worries over a potential Iranian strike further into Europe come after an Iranian drone struck a British RAF base in Cyprus overnight, in a conflict that began with the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the weekend. 

For years, Iran has been working to increase the range of these projectiles, and the most lethal is believed to be the Khorramshahr 4 missile. 

It has a range of 2,000 to 3,000km and carries a 1,500kg warhead, according to the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a US-based think tank. 

It can be launched in volleys, and if used, the missiles could reach a large swathe of Europe, including Greece, Italy, Germany, Poland and Denmark.

Shahed suicide drones, with a range of 2,000km, could also strike parts of Europe, while an array of missiles with ranges of about 1,200 to 1,500km have already been reaching countries across the Middle East, such as Israel, the UAE and Bahrain. 

Iranian suicide drones add another layer of pressure to its potential targets.

Slower than missiles but easier to launch in large numbers, Iran’s one-way attack drones may be used in repeated waves to wear down air defences.

Iran is believed to possess the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the Middle East. However, the exact count is difficult to pinpoint due to the Islamic Republic’s so-called ‘missile cities’ and lack of transparency. 

The Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities were bombed by Israel during the 12-Day War last year. 

But the regime has a large arsenal of shorter-range systems capable of reaching its neighbours and US military bases across the region, and several of these are believed to have survived Israel’s strikes last year. 

The overnight strike on RAF base Akrotiri in Cyprus prompted the Ministry of Defence to evacuate the families of those living on the site as a ‘precautionary measure.’

And on Monday, Iran launched its second attack on the British base, but the two unmanned suicide drones were shot down just in time. 

The Daily Mail understands that the weapons sent by the Iranian regime were destroyed by RAF Typhoons from RAF Akrotiri.

Sirens were blaring, and personnel were told to ‘take cover’ at the UK’s air base in the Mediterranean, which had already been hit by a ‘kamikaze’ attack drone sent by Tehran last night.

Fears are also bubbling that Iran will call on its sleeper terror cells to attack targets across Europe.

A sleeper cell is a covert group of operatives affiliated with a state or non-state actor, such as a terrorist group, who infiltrate a country or community, essentially hiding in plain sight for a prolonged period of time before they are activated to carry out acts of terrorism, spying or sabotage. 

Marc Henrichmann, a member of the German parliament’s intelligence committee yesterday warned that the weekend’s attacks won’t stay isolated to the Middle East. 

Speaking to German media, he said: ‘The escalation in the Middle East doesn’t just affect the region itself. 

‘The Iranian regime has repeatedly demonstrated in the past that it carried out its terror beyond its own borders.’

The German official went on: ‘Iranian sleeper cells in Europe cannot be ruled out’ as a part of Tehran’s retaliation strategy. 

‘Vigilance is the order of the day,’ he concluded. 

Concern from Germany is held across the West, as experts and security officials believe that Iran has drawn up a blueprint for terror attacks involving sleeper cells and proxy groups in Britain and Europe in the event of the assassination of its leader. 

The assassination of the Ayatollah has already prompted a review of the UK’s terror threat level. 

MI5 warned last year that Iran had been behind 20 potentially deadly plots in the UK in the last 12 months. 

On Sunday, Defence Secretary John Healey said there was a risk of ‘increasing Iranian indiscriminate retaliatory attacks’ which required a review of the threat level. This currently stands at ‘substantial’ – meaning a terror attack is judged to be ‘likely’. There are two higher levels – ‘severe’ and ‘critical’.

Speaking on Sky News, Healey said: ‘When you have some of [Iran’s] proxies capable of other actions on their behalf, then of course our force protection in the region is at its highest. Our alert and vigilance in the UK is also high.’

Worries over Tehran’s ability to unleash chaos beyond the Middle East are understood to be rooted in efforts by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ efforts to coordinate clandestine intelligence operations, such as assassinations and cyber attacks, across the West, according to The i.  

There is also increased concern that the IRGC could act alongside the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah, which is believed to have a support network of sleeper agents in Europe. 

Elsewhere in the US, it has been reported that there has been increased ‘chatter’ – a term used for electronic intercepts of terrorists’ communications. 

One senior US official told the New York Times that government analysts were observing ‘a lot’ of terrorist cell activity. 

Worries over the Iranian regime’s potential to unleash chaos in Europe come as European leaders struggled to find common ground on Sunday over the conflict in the Middle East. 

Keir Starmer and his French and German counterparts, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, said on Sunday night they would ‘take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region, potentially through enabling necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran’s capability to fire missiles and drones at their source.’

They will ‘work together with the US and allies in the region on this matter,’ they added. 

The statement came after the EU’s 27 member states published a joint statement calling for ‘full respect of international law’, urging Iran to stop developing its missile programme. 

But European leaders have been split on whether the ‘international law’ part of the statement could be seen as criticism of Trump and the Israeli government.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the US-Israeli strikes, warning they risked bringing about a ‘more uncertain and hostile international order.’ 

But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it wasn’t ‘the time to lecture our partners and allies,’ adding ‘we share many of their goals without being able to actually achieve them ourselves.’

Strikes by Israel and the US were ongoing in Iran on Monday. 

Trump said in a video posted Sunday that the operation in Iran — ‘one of the most complex, most overwhelming military offensives the world has ever seen’ — will continue until ‘all of our objectives’ are achieved.

Iran’s provisional governing council is expected to name a new supreme leader. Iran’s theocracy has struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests over the economy that morphed into anti-government ones.

A top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, said Monday on social media: ‘We will not negotiate with the United States.’

Iran launched retaliatory missiles and drones targeting Israel and nearby Arab Gulf countries hosting US forces. Three US service members have been killed, according to U.S. Central Command.

The island kingdom of Bahrain said Monday that one person was killed by shrapnel from an intercepted missile.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, says it has intercepted 61 missiles and 34 attack drones launched against it. Some fire has gotten through, striking buildings and the naval base.

Eleven people have been killed in Israel as loud explosions caused by missile impacts or interceptions could be heard in Tel Aviv. Israel’s rescue services said that nine people were killed and more wounded in a strike that hit a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh.

Iran’s foreign minister has suggested his country’s military units are acting independently from any central government control after being pressed about attacks on Gulf Arab nations that have served as intermediaries for Tehran in the past.

An Iraqi Shiite militia claimed a drone attack on Monday targeting U.S. troops at the airport in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.

Fire and smoke poured out of the US Embassy compound in Kuwait after an Iranian attack on the small Mideast nation on Monday.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked it have killed at least 31 people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday. The Health Ministry said that the strikes also wounded 149 people. It said about two-thirds of the dead were in southern Lebanon.

Roads in southern Lebanon and leading out of Beirut’s southern suburbs were gridlocked early Monday with people fleeing after Israel launched a barrage of strikes.