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Hegseth downplays likelihood of NATO Article 5 invocation based on Iran firing missile at Türkiye

04 March 2026 17:56 (UTC +04:00)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon that the U.S. was "aware" of the apparent thwarted Iranian attempt to target Türkiye with its retaliatory missile fire, but that he didn't expect the incident to prompt Türkiye to trigger NATO's collective defense clause, APA reports, citing CBS NEWS.

Türkiye is a NATO member, and its military said Wednesday that NATO defenses had shot down an Iranian missile headed for the country's airspace, without specifying what defensive weapon was used, or which NATO member it belonged to.

Hegseth said there was "no sense that it would trigger anything like Article 5."

"On the matter with Turkey, I'll have to get back to you on exactly what the intercept looked like," Hegseth said. "We're aware of that particular engagement, although no sense that it would trigger anything like Article 5."

Article 5 is NATO's cornerstone defense principle, which says effectively that if any NATO nation is attacked, it will be responded to as an attack on all.

The only time the clause has been invoked only once in the seven-decade-old alliance's history, in 2001, by the United States in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.