NATO’s Air Defense Downs Iranian Missile Over Turkey

U.S. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense provision likely won’t be initiated.

Smoke from interceptions of projectiles from Iran over Abu Dhabi on Feb. 28, 2026. Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Turkish officials said on March 4 that NATO’s defense system destroyed an Iranian missile that was headed into Turkey’s airspace.

The missile was detected over Iraqi and Syrian airspace before NATO’s air defense systems destroyed it, Turkey’s head of communications, Burhanettin Duran, wrote in a statement on X.