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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening to discuss the latest developments in the region, with the conversation centered on an Iranian ballistic missile that entered a trajectory toward Turkish airspace before being intercepted by allied forces.
The call, confirmed by Türkiye's Foreign Ministry on March 4, came hours after a U.S. Navy destroyer stationed in the eastern Mediterranean shot down the Iranian missile using an SM-3 interceptor, marking the first known instance of Iranian fire being directed toward a NATO member state since the broader conflict erupted last weekend.
The missile traversed Iraqi and Syrian airspace before it was engaged at approximately 11:40 p.m. EST by a warship operating in the eastern Mediterranean. Türkiye's Defense Ministry confirmed the interception, stating the projectile had been "engaged in a timely manner by NATO air and missile defense elements." No casualties or injuries were reported.
Debris from the interceptor itself, rather than the incoming missile, fell in the Dortyol district of Hatay province in southern Türkiye, near the Syrian border. Defense publication TURDEF reported that recovered fragments were consistent with an SM-3 second-stage booster, confirming the intercept was carried out by an Aegis-equipped U.S. Navy destroyer rather than a land-based Patriot battery as initially speculated.
The SM-3 is a ship-based anti-ballistic weapon that engages short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their mid-course flight phase, outside the Earth's atmosphere. It operates on a hit-to-kill principle, physically colliding with its target rather than relying on an explosive warhead.
The missile's precise intended target has not been officially confirmed by any government. A Turkish official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the projectile had been aimed at a military facility in Cyprus but veered off course. Türkiye's Defense Ministry did not specify a target, noting only that it had been detected heading toward Turkish airspace.
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