U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday attacks on NATO ally Türkiye’s sovereignty were “unacceptable” after the alliance shot down an Iranian missile.
Rubio spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan over the phone and pledged Washington's full support, the U.S. State Department said.
Türkiye on Wednesday said that NATO air defenses destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile headed into Turkish airspace.
Rubio told Fidan that "the attacks on Türkiye's sovereign territory were unacceptable and pledged full support from the United States," the State Department said in a statement.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by NATO air defense systems, Turkish officials said Wednesday.
The defence ministry said it had been "engaged and neutralized by NATO air-and-missile defense assets deployed in the eastern Mediterranean".
It did not specify the missile's intended target. Iran has been hitting sites across the region in retaliation after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against it on Saturday.
A Turkish official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the missile had been "aimed at a base in Greek Cyprus but veered off course".
Officials said fragments that fell in the Dörtyol district in southern Türkiye, near the Syrian border, had been identified as pieces of the interceptor used to neutralize "the threat in the air".
No casualties were reported.
Rubio and Fidan also discussed recent developments in Iran and across the Middle East during their phone call.
They also reiterated the continued strength of the bilateral relationship, the U.S. State Department added.
Since Saturday, joint U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed several senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
