By Jared Malsin and Shelby Holliday
Iranian strikes across the Mideast are risking drawing in a raft of America's NATO allies.
The U.K. and France have in recent days both said they would send additional warships to the region after an Iranian drone targeted a British military base in Cyprus.
And on Wednesday, a U.S. Navy destroyer in the eastern Mediterranean shot down an Iranian missile on its way toward an important Turkish military base that hosts American forces, a U.S. official said, marking the crossing of another line in the rapidly expanding conflagration. Iran until Wednesday had refrained from attacking its neighbor Turkey.
Turkey's defense ministry said earlier that North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces shot down the missile as it headed toward Turkish airspace. A spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry declined to comment on what the missile was targeting.
NATO condemned the targeting of Turkey, a member of the military alliance. The Turkish Defense Ministry said the Iranian missile was destroyed after passing through Iraqi and Syrian airspace on its way toward southern Turkey. The air defense ordnance fell in an open area in southern Turkey's Hatay province, causing no injuries or damage, it added.
The U.S. maintains a major military base in southern Turkey, called Incirlik, a facility it shares with the Turkish military.
"We reserve the right to respond to any hostile act directed at our country," the ministry said in the statement.
Turkish Defense Minister Hakan Fidan called his Iranian counterpart in response, saying that Tehran should avoid any actions that would widen the conflict.
The NATO charter says that an armed attack against one member "shall be considered an attack against all members, and triggers an obligation for each member to come to its assistance" according to the website of the military alliance.
"We condemn Iran's targeting of Türkiye," said NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart, using the Turkish name for the country used in official discourse. "NATO stands firmly with all Allies," she said in a short statement.
The strike also highlights how countries that didn't support the Trump administration's war are getting dragged into the conflict after Iran unleashed waves of missile and drone attacks across the region, targeting U.S. military bases, airports, and infrastructure that pumps much of the world's oil and gas supply.
Tehran's strategy is to internationalize the conflict, imposing a higher cost on U.S. allies and disrupting global markets, military analysts say, as a response to what Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say is a war to enable the removal of the Iranian regime.
The Turkish government mounted a diplomatic effort to avoid the current U.S. and Israeli military offensive on Iran, and Turkish officials say they have continued to push to defuse the crisis in recent days.
Iran also attacked Qatar and Oman, two other countries that also attempted to mediate in the conflict.
"We reiterate our warning to all parties to refrain from steps that could increase tensions in the region and lead to the spread of conflicts," said Burhanettin Duran, the head of the Turkish government's communications office, an arm of the presidency, in a social-media post.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Shelby Holliday at shelby.holliday@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 04, 2026 11:34 ET (16:34 GMT)
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