- Title: EXCLUSIVE: NATO'S Rutte on Article 5, Ukraine and Iran
- Date: 5th March 2026
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MARCH 5, 2026) (REUTERS) NATO SECRETARY GENERAL MARK RUTTE SITTING DOWN FOR INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS JOURNALIST ANDREW GRAY, SAYING: "How big is the risk that an incident like this draws all of NATO into the conflict, that Iran or one of its proxies attacks a NATO ally, that ally invokes Article 5 and NATO suddenly then is at war with
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: France Iran Israel NATO Russia Turkey US USA Ukraine conflict defence nuclear war
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Europe,NATO,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001117005032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A COMPREHENSIVE HIGH QUALITY EDIT THAT COMPILES SOUNDBITES FROM SEVERAL EDITS -- 1169-USA-TRUMP/NATO-RUTTE, 1233-IRAN-CRISIS/NATO-RUTTE-FRANCE, 1164-IRAN-CRISIS/NATO-RUTTE AND 1168-UKRAINE-CRISIS/NATO-RUTTE
In an exclusive interview with Reuters on Thursday (March 5), NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the shooting down of a ballistic missile headed for Turkey by NATO air defences does not provide immediate reason to trigger the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence clause.
"Nobody's talking about Article 5," Rutte said. "The most important thing is that our adversaries have seen yesterday that NATO is so strong and so vigilant, and even more vigilant, if possible, since Saturday."
Turkey said NATO air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile as it headed into Turkish airspace, marking the first time the alliance member has been drawn into the Middle East conflict and raising the possibility of an expansion involving its bloc allies.
Rutte on Thursday also welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron's pledge to expand his country's nuclear deterrent but said the U.S. nuclear umbrella would remain the ultimate guarantor of European security.
Macron this week announced France would increase its nuclear arsenal and potentially allow European partners to host French warplanes on deterrence missions, following concerns among allies about the reliability of the U.S.
Rutte said Macron's update to France's nuclear doctrine would make it harder for Russia to assess European deterrence and defence and that he supported discussions over nuclear cooperation between Paris and several European capitals.
But he said Europe could not do without U.S. protection and sought to dismiss concerns over Washington's commitment to defending Europe.
NATO allies will keep supporting Ukraine despite the situation in Iran, Rutte added.
(Production: Christian Levaux, Yiming Woo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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