Iranian military leaders are reportedly contemplating a preemptive attack on a joint U.S.-U.K. base on Chagos Island in the Indian Ocean, as a means to dissuade President Donald Trump from initiating military action against Iran, according to a report originally published by the Telegraph.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explained to Fox News Digital that the challenge with any Iranian military threat is deciphering what is mere posturing and what is a credible threat. He further stated, “Deception is a propaganda mechanism employed to bolster deterrence, allowing a regime with conventional military weaknesses to avoid conflict.”

He added, “By issuing threats widely, the regime aims to avoid actual conflict, ensuring that its revolutionary foreign policy remains unchallenged and intact.”

A big banner depicting Iran’s supreme leader is placed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 26, 2024. (Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“There’s always the chance of using a foreign-procured container launched cruise missile from even an unconverted tanker or commercial vessel at sea,” Ben Taleblu explained in his post, referring to its use of both Russian and Chinese procured cruise missiles following its war with Iraq in the 1980s.

In addition, Iran could again turn to its close ties to terrorist networks to transfer missile capabilities to war-torn areas like Yemen, which could enable it to strike further south into the Indian Ocean by some 800 miles. 

“While all these options would make Iran’s launch platforms, especially at sea, easy targets for a counterstrike, they mean that Tehran does have options to strike further afield than expected,” Ben Taleblu said. 

Trump in recent days has increased his threats against Iran and warned there could be direct conflict if it doesn’t stop arming the Houthi terrorist group, or halt its nuclear program. 

But it remains unclear at what level the U.S. would respond to a direct attack on its military, which could prove catastrophic for Tehran given its revealed defense capabilities when faced with strikes from Israel. 

A protester holds a model of a Houthi missile during a demonstration against Israel’s continued war on the Gaza Strip, and the U.S.-led airstrikes and sanctions against the Houthi group in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 16, 2024. (Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Iran on Monday also filed a letter of complaint with the United Nations Security Council over Trump’s “reckless and belligerent” threats and described them as “a flagrant violation of international law.”

According to a report by Reuters, Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Tehran “strongly warns against any military adventurism and will respond swiftly and decisively to any act of aggression or attack by the United States or its proxy, the Israeli regime, against its sovereignty, territorial integrity, or national interests.”