Nato air and missile assets located in the eastern Mediterranean have downed another ballistic missile launched from Iran, the Turkish defence ministry said.

While the exact location of the missile has not yet been disclosed, the ministry said that “all necessary measures are being taken decisively and without hesitation against any threat directed at our country’s territory and airspace”.

Later on Friday, Reuters quoted Nato spokeswoman Allison Hart as having confirmed that the missile had been fired from Iran in the direction of Turkey, and having said that “Nato remains vigilant and stands firm in its defence of all allies”.

The exact location of where the drone was shot down has not yet been made public, but the incident comes with an array of Nato military assets having amassed in the eastern Mediterranean.

France and Greece both swiftly deployed frigates to the eastern Mediterranean after Cyprus’ British Akrotiri air force base was hit by an Iranian-made drone on March 2, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis having described one of the two frigates he sent, the Kimon, as the “pride of the Greek fleet”. 

In addition to its own frigate, France also sent the aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle to the region, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying during his visit to Cyprus on Monday that the ship is “now close to Cyprus to contribute to the overall defence picture, and to ensure it in the long term”.

Earlier, Italy had announced its intention to send the Federico Martinego frigate to Cyprus, while Spain is to send the Cristobal Colon frigate, and the Netherlands is also to send a frigate of its own as part of the Charles de Gaulle’s carrier strike group.

The United Kingdom, meanwhile, which operates and holds sovereignty over the Akrotiri air force base, which was hit by last week’s drone, has sent multiple AW159 Wildcat helicopters, armed with anti-drone missiles, to Cyprus, while the HMS Dragon Type 45 destroyer warship departed from Portsmouth on Tuesday evening.

While Turkey itself has not yet announced the deployment of any warships to the eastern Mediterranean, it did station six F-16 fighter jets at northern Cyprus’ Ercan (Tymbou) airport, and complemented those fighter jets with Hisar-A surface-to-air missiles.

Prior to Turkey’s stationing of F-16s in Cyprus, Greece had sent four F-16s of its own to Paphos.