NEWSFLASH: Iranian missile headed for Turkey shot down by NATO

Turkey's MoD announced that a missile fired from Iran entered its airspace on Wednesday and was destroyed by NATO defense systems in the eastern Mediterranean.

NATO defenses intercepted a missile over the eastern Mediterranean Sea that was launched from Iran into Turkish airspace, according to the Turkish Defence Ministry.

There were no casualties or injuries reported.

The attack could theoretically trigger NATO Article 5, in which an armed attack against one NATO member is an attack against all. The only time NATO Article 5 has been invoked was after the 9/11 attack in 2001.

Also on Monday, Iran attacked the British airbase in Cyprus, which is one of the four EU member states not in NATO, and the Estonian Embassy building in Abu Dhabi was damaged.

That same day, Turkish President Erdogan criticized the U.S. and Israeli attacks and called them a “clear violation” of international law.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that NATO would not participate in the operations against Iran, BBC reported on Monday.

More than 870 people have been killed already since the beginning of the US-Israel attack on Iran this Saturday, according to the New York Times. The vast majority of deaths have been in Iran.

Turkish President Erdogan in Ankara, Turkey on March 3, 2026. (Photo by TUR Presidency / Mustafa Kamaci/Anadolu via Getty Images)

This marks Turkey’s first military involvement in the war: While Iran has targeted other U.S. bases in the region, including in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and the 6 Gulf states, analysts reported only a day ago that the likelihood of Iran striking Turkey was low. The move was seen as a “high-cost strategic gamble” for Iran, Arif Keskin, an Iranian expert at Ankara University, told France 24.

The same article included comments from Serhan Afacan, director of the Ankara-based Centre for Iranian Studies (IRAM), who said that Iran seems to be relying on a lack of military response to the attacks on the Gulf states but does not think that will be the case with Turkey.