Nato shoots down Iranian ballistic missile headed for Turkey

[ANKARA] North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) shot down a ballistic missile that was fired from Iran and headed toward Turkish airspace on Wednesday (Mar 4), the first time the alliance was involved in defending a member state from a projectile launched by Teheran since US and Israel began attacking the Islamic Republic last week.

The “ballistic munition” flew through Iraqi and Syrian airspace before it was shot down by Nato air defences stationed in the eastern Mediterranean region, Turkey’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Debris from the interceptor fell in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, Turkish presidency’s communications director said in a separate statement. There were no casualties.

The incident marks the first time Turkey found itself embroiled in the conflict, now in its fifth day. Nato-member Turkey is not a participant in the war and has not allowed its airspace to be used for attacks on Iran. However, Turkey is home to an early-warning radar at Kurecik, a critical component of Nato’s ballistic-missile defence, some 700 km west of the Iranian border. The area where debris from the interceptor fell lies some 60 miles east of Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, where the US has had military assets in the past.

“We remind all parties that we reserve the right to respond to any hostile actions against our country,” the defence ministry said. “We warn all parties to refrain from actions that would lead to further escalation of conflicts in the region.” According to Turkey’s NTV television, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke with his Iranian counterpart after the incident, warning against actions that would allow the conflict to spread further across the region.

After the incident, Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul 100 Index pared gains of as much as 1.2 per cent and was trading 0.1 per cent higher as of 2.47pm in Istanbul. BLOOMBERG