Iran denies firing missile towards Turkiye after NATO interception

Turkiye’s Defence Ministry had said a ⁠ballistic missile ​fired from ⁠Iran towards Turkish airspace was destroyed ⁠by NATO air and missile defence systems over ‌the eastern Mediterranean.Published On 5 Mar 2026⁠Iran’s ⁠Armed Forces have denied firing ⁠any missile towards Turkish territory, insisting that Iran respects the sovereignty of Turkiye, they said in a statement ‌carried by state media.The Iranian statement on Thursday comes after Turkiye’s Ministry of National Defence said on Wednesday that a ⁠ballistic missile fired from ⁠Iran towards Turkish airspace after ⁠passing Syria and Iraq ⁠was destroyed ⁠by NATO air and missile defence systems over ‌the eastern Mediterranean.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3NATO defences destroy missile fired from Iran over Mediterranean: Turkiyelist 2 of 3US Senate fails to advance war powers measure to rein in Trump’s Iran warlist 3 of 3Death toll in Iran surpasses 1,000 as Israel-US strikes continueend of listIt was not clear where the missile was aimed.“A ballistic munition launched from Iran, which was detected passing through Iraqi and Syrian airspace and heading towards Turkish airspace, was engaged in a timely manner by NATO air and missile defence assets stationed in the eastern Mediterranean and rendered inactive,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.It said there were no ⁠casualties or injuries, adding that Ankara ⁠reserves the right to respond ⁠to any ⁠hostile actions against it, while warning parties to refrain ‌from escalating the conflict.In an evening address to the nation, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country was “taking all the necessary precautions” in consultation with its NATO allies and was issuing “warnings in the clearest terms to prevent similar incidents from happening again”.“If we, as a nation, want to live in peace and tranquillity… we must constantly increase our deterrent capabilities. In these difficult times … we are leaving absolutely nothing to chance regarding the security of our borders and airspace,” he said.Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan on Wednesday conveyed in a call to his Iranian ⁠counterpart Ankara’s protest, the Reuters news agency reported.