Exclusive-Article Five not on the table despite Iran missile incident, NATO's Rutte says

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - ⁠NATO is vigilant about events ⁠in the Middle East and the ‌shooting-down of a missile headed for Turkish airspace on Wednesday, but invoking Article Five is ​not on the table right ⁠now, the military ⁠alliance's chief Mark Rutte told Reuters on ⁠Thursday. Read full story The NATO flag is pictured at the venue of the upcoming NATO summit, in The Hague, Netherlands June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - ⁠NATO is vigilant about events ⁠in the Middle East and the ‌shooting-down of a missile headed for Turkish airspace on Wednesday, but invoking Article Five is ​not on the table right ⁠now, the military ⁠alliance's chief Mark Rutte told Reuters on ⁠Thursday."Nobody's ‌talking about Article Five," Rutte said in an interview.Turkey said ⁠NATO air defences destroyed an Iranian ​ballistic missile ‌headed into Turkish airspace, marking the ⁠first ​time the alliance member has been drawn into the Middle East conflict and ⁠raising the possibility of a ​major expansion involving its bloc allies.The alliance's Article Five specifies that an attack on ⁠one of its members is an attack on all the others.Rutte said NATO supports the United States in its ​strikes against Iran ⁠as the country was "close to becoming a ​threat to Europe as ‌well." (Reporting by Andrew Gray; ​Writing by Inti Landauro; Editing by Makini Brice and Richard Lough) Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates! Report a mistake What is the issue about? Spelling and grammatical error Factually incorrect Story is irrelevant This field is mandatory. Please provide details of the report. Email (optional) Please enter valid email. Report issue Cancel Invalid captcha response. Please re-try again. Thank you for your report!