The spokesperson for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Colonel Martin L. O’Donnell, announced on Thursday, 5 March, that NATO had strengthened its Alliance-wide ballistic missile defence posture.
“The commander of NATO’s Air Command [...] recommended NATO’s ballistic missile defence posture remain at this heightened level until the threat from Iran’s continued indiscriminate attacks across the region subsides,” explained the spokesperson, adding that this recommendation had been approved by the supreme allied commander Europe.
NATO defence systems had, the previous day, destroyed a ballistic missile that had been fired from Iran and that was heading for Turkish airspace.
“In less than 10 minutes, NATO service members identified a threat to Allies, a ballistic missile; confirmed its trajectory; alerted land- and sea-based missile defence systems; and launched an interceptor to defeat the threat and protect our territory and its people,” explained Colonel O’Donnell.
The North Atlantic Council, which met in ambassadorial format on 5 March, strongly condemned the Iranian attacks on Türkiye and expressed its full solidarity with Ankara. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)