Tehran Insists the Missiles Shot Down Over Turkey Did Not Originate from Iran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reached out to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by phone to address a growing diplomatic tension, asserting that Iran bore no responsibility for the ballistic missiles that entered Turkish airspace. According to an official statement from Turkey's Presidential Communications Directorate, Pezeshkian also pledged that a thorough investigation into the incidents would be conducted. The call was initiated at Iran's request.

The controversy stems from two separate incidents. On March 4, Turkey's defense ministry reported that a ballistic missile heading toward Turkish airspace had been intercepted after crossing over Iraq and Syria. Then, on March 9, a second such missile was shot down by NATO air and missile defense systems operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, again attributed at the time to an Iranian launch.

Erdoğan made his position clear during the call: while he has consistently opposed foreign military intervention in Iran, describing such actions as a violation of international law, he was equally firm that firing missiles into neighboring, friendly nations is unacceptable and serves no one's interests. He told Pezeshkian directly that this pattern of behavior needs to stop.