Nato does not plan to trigger its Article 5 mutual defence clause over the shooting down of a ballistic missile headed for Turkiye, the alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte tells Reuters, amid fears the alliance could become embroiled in the Iran-Israel-US war.

“Nobody’s talking about Article 5,” Rutte said in an interview at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, even as he described the incident as “serious”.

“The most important thing is that our adversaries have seen yesterday that Nato is so strong and so vigilant,” he said.

Nato member Turkiye said the alliance’s air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile as it headed into Turkish airspace, highlighting the possibility that the conflict could expand to include the entire alliance.

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