Missile Allegedly Fired at Turkey Brings Talk of Article 5

Turkey and Iran are at odds over a missile allegedly fired at the Incirlik Air Base, a joint Turkish-US airbase near the city of Adana. Ankara reported Wednesday that a projectile originating in Iran was tracked over Iraq and Syria and disabled by NATO air and missile defenses above the eastern Mediterranean before it reached Turkish airspace, per Al Jazeera. A senior US military official said it was aimed at Incirlik and was shot down by an interceptor missile on the USS Oscar Austin, per the New York Times. There were no injuries, but Turkey lodged a formal protest with Tehran and warned it retains the right to respond to any hostile move.

Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran six days ago, Iran has fired missiles at US military facilities in neighboring countries, including the United Arab Emirates. However, Iran's armed forces rejected the Turkish account on Thursday, insisting they had not launched any missile toward "friendly" Turkey and stressing their respect for its sovereignty, per Reuters. A deliberate attack on Turkey would "mark a major escalation and could activate NATO's mutual defense clause," the Times reports, though US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said there was "no sense" in the interception triggering Article 5.

Speaking to Reuters, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said there were no plans to trigger Article 5, though he described the incident as "serious." A NATO rep previously condemned Iran's "indiscriminate attacks across the region" while touting NATO's "strong" defenses. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has called the US and Israeli attacks on Iran "illegal," said Turkey is coordinating with NATO allies and vowed to leave "absolutely nothing to chance" regarding border and airspace security.