00:00This Monday, Turkey said that NATO air defences shot down a second Iranian ballistic missile that had entered its airspace.
00:07Ankara is warning it would move against any such threats, which increasingly pose a test for NATO.
00:13The incident in the south of Turkey marks the second intercepted missile from Iran in the last seven days.
00:20Turkey, which is NATO's second largest army, and, it's worth noting, Iran's neighbour,
00:25had warned Tehran on Saturday against attacking again, but it's not suggested it wants to formally call on NATO members
00:33for further protection.
00:35France, meanwhile, has joined in. The foreign ministry says Iran has to stop its unjustified strikes in the region.
00:42Let's go live to our correspondent Jasper Mortimer. He's awaiting us in Ankara, capital of Turkey.
00:48Jasper, good evening to you. Turkey in the firing line. Tell us about the country's reaction.
00:54Well, so far, Mark, the reaction has been calm.
00:58You know, there are photographs of the fragments of the missile shot down today.
01:03They're all over the television channels, but they're not causing shock.
01:07You know, two missiles have been fired at Turkey in five days, ostensibly at Ingelik,
01:13a base in the south, near the city of Adena, where America has dozens of fighter jets and bombers and,
01:22reportedly, nuclear warheads.
01:24But both missiles have been shot down harmlessly.
01:28So this shows NATO air defences work.
01:31And for that reason, the reaction is calm.
01:35President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a speech early this evening in which he said the necessary warnings had been given
01:42to Iran.
01:43But despite these, Iran continues to take, quote, the wrong steps.
01:49And then he said nobody should insist on doing wrong.
01:53Nobody should fall into the trap of the Zionist massacre organization.
01:58That's his euphemism for the Israeli government, of making brother kill brother.
02:04And by that, he means Iranians and Turks are Muslim brothers.
02:09Then, interestingly, he also said, we are watching the terrorist entities in the region.
02:16By that, he was referring to the Iranian Kurdish organization in the northeast of Iraq,
02:22which indicated last week that it would be happy to go into Iran and engage Iranian government forces.
02:33And initially, President Donald Trump said he would welcome that.
02:37But then it looks as if wiser people spoke in Trump's ear because he walked back from that offer to
02:45help the Iranian Kurdish militia.
02:48Is there any sense, Jasper, given what you've told us about the NATO defense is working?
02:53There must be a sense, though, among people that this could escalate.
02:57It takes one missile to fall in the wrong place, one issue like that to really create outrage.
03:02Turkey, of course, having that border with Iran.
03:04Is there a feeling that this could escalate?
03:07Well, escalation is certainly a potential possibility.
03:11And, Mark, the Injiluk air base is 10 kilometers from the center of Adana, a city of 1.8 million
03:18people.
03:19So if a missile were to puncture NATO air defenses and be slightly off course,
03:26it would land in a residential area of Adana and cause civilian casualties.
03:31And Turkey certainly doesn't want that.
03:33But, you know, so far in this war, Iran has been targeting the assets of its enemies,
03:39the U.S. and Israel.
03:41Now, the U.S. has two military assets in Turkey, Injiluk and the Kuregic radar station,
03:48which is also in the east of Turkey.
03:50Now, so far, Iran has failed to hit Injiluk.
03:54And there is no evidence that it has even tried to hit Kuregic.
03:59Escalation would actually mean Iran hitting Turkish assets.
04:04So far, there's no sign of that.
04:05And I think there's a reason.
04:07You know, when this war began, Turkey was the only regional power that condemned Washington outright.
04:15The Gulf states didn't like America starting this war, but they didn't condemn Washington.
04:23Turkey did.
04:24And I think Iran is grateful for that.
04:28And I think Iran sees Turkey as a potential mediator when the time comes for bringing this conflict to an
04:35end.
04:36Jasper Mortimer, as always, thank you for your analysis of the situation.
04:40Jasper Mortimer, our correspondent in Ankara.
04:42Thank you for joining us, sir.
04:43Thank you for joining us for joining us.
04:43Thank you for joining us.
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