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Iran threatens Europe as NATO intercepts missile near Turkish airspace
Countries of the European Union will “sooner or later pay the price” if they remain indifferent to the war being waged against Iran by the United States and Israel, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in an interview with Spanish television.
A warning to Europe
Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, told the Spanish public broadcaster TVE that European countries would face consequences if they failed to condemn the attacks against Iran.
According to him, the military operations carried out by the United States and Israel violate international law, and Europe’s silence only deepens the conflict.
The spokesman also warned that if European countries were to take part in military operations, Iran would interpret such involvement as a declaration of war.
Rising tensions between NATO and Iran
Tensions were further heightened by an incident on Wednesday, when the Turkish Ministry of Defence reported that NATO air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile over the Mediterranean Sea that had been heading towards Turkish airspace.
According to Turkish authorities, the projectile had been launched from Iranian territory before NATO systems intercepted it mid-air.
Tehran, however, firmly denies the allegation and insists the missile was not launched from Iran. Iranian officials said they have no interest in entering into direct military confrontation with NATO and suggested the incident may have been the result of misunderstanding or inaccurate information.
Nevertheless, the incident has raised serious concerns, as Turkey is a NATO member and any similar event could further increase tensions between the military alliance and Iran.
The European Union’s position on the conflict
Foreign ministers from the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the escalation in the Middle East and the recent attacks attributed to Iran.
The EU delegation was led by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.
During the meeting, the parties agreed on several key points regarding the conflict: