NATO is closely monitoring events in the Middle East and yesterday's downing of a missile heading towards Turkish airspace, but triggering Article 5 is not on the table at the moment, the alliance's Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview with Reuters, BTA reported.
“Nobody is talking about Article 5“, Rutte said in a conversation with the agency. "The most important thing is that our adversaries yesterday saw how strong and vigilant NATO is and that since Saturday it has become even more vigilant," he added.
Turkey announced yesterday that NATO air defenses had destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile heading towards Turkish airspace. This was the first time Ankara has been drawn into the Middle East crisis, raising the risk of a significant escalation of the conflict involving allies from the alliance.
The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces today denied that they had fired missiles at Turkey and said that the Islamic Republic respects the sovereignty of the friendly Turkish country.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on all others, Reuters reports.
Rutte added that NATO supports the US strikes on Iran, as the country was “on the way to becoming a real threat to Europe“.