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March 27 (UPI) — All 32 NATO nations met or exceeded the alliance’s target for defense spending last year, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said, as Canada and several ally nations increased their investment in defense amid war in Europe and the Middle East.

“We see clearly that our world is constantly changing. And we are adapting to ensure we remain prepared,” he said during a press conference in Brussels, as he released the alliance’s 2025 Annual Report.

“The threat picture across 2025 made clear that we need to do more. And throughout the year, NATO continued to come together to ensure that we are ready and able to respond to any threat, across all domains, both now and in the future.”

The defensive military alliance has called on member states to invest at least 2% of their gross domestic product in defense since at least 2006, with allies in 2014 pledging that those below the guideline would move toward it within a decade — though few nations did so for years.

Amid what he described as a more dangerous security environment — including Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Kremlin’s support from China, Iran, North Korea and Belarus, as well as the broader instability centered on Iran — countries are stepping up, he said, calling 2025 “a landmark year for NATO.”

Amid the protracted war in Europe and uncertainty about the United States’ cooperation with the alliance, defense ministers last year made a commitment to investing 5% of GDP annually in core defense requirements by 2035.

Among nations Rutte highlighted for reaching the 2% benchmark was Canada, which, under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney, has sharply increased its defense spending as its once iron-clad relationship with the United States has frayed under the weight of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s incendiary rhetoric, threats of annexation and tariffs.

In the last 10 months of the Carney government, Canada has spent more than $23.8 billion on defense and security, pushing it over the 2% threshold for the first time since the end of the Cold War — and well ahead of the 2032 pledge made by former Defense Minister Bill Blair in 2024.

“As a result of our efforts, this morning, NATO confirmed that Canada has achieved its 2% defense expenditure target — half a decade ahead of the original schedule,” Carney said during a press conference held Thursday aboard a Royal Canadian navy vessel in Halifax Harbor.

“Canadians are responding to our renewed commitment and call to serve.”

The Liberal leader described the 2% target as “the foundation” for further investment in the country’s defense expenditure, as he announced a further $2.1 billion defense package for Atlantic Canada.

“Over the past 11 months, one of our government’s key priorities has been to reinvest in rebuilding and rearming the [Canadian Armed Forces] to provide you with the support you need to achieve mission success,” he said.

“We will continue our efforts with the same speed and determination that we have shown from the very beginning.”

Ministry of National Defence says no casualties or damage after missile shot down over southern city of Gaziantep.

The Turkish Ministry of National Defence says NATO air defences have intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran towards Turkiye as concerns grow that the United States-Israel war against Iran will escalate.

The missile was intercepted on Monday over the Sahinbey district of Gaziantep in southern Turkiye, the ministry said in a statement. No casualties or damage were reported.

“Ankara emphasized its capability and determination to protect national airspace and border security, while warning that further escalation in the region must be avoided,” the statement said.

The ministry also urged all sides, especially Tehran, “to refrain from actions that could endanger civilians or undermine regional stability”.

Monday’s incident was the second time an Iranian ballistic missile was fired towards Turkiye since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, according to local authorities.

The US-Israeli attacks have prompted a wave of Iranian missile and drone strikes across the wider region, including on targets in Arab Gulf countries.

Iran did not immediately comment on the Turkish ministry’s statement.

NATO spokesperson Allison Hart confirmed that the military alliance had intercepted “a missile heading to Turkiye”. “NATO stands firm in its readiness to defend all Allies against any threat,” Hart said in a post on X.

Iran denied firing a ballistic missile towards Turkiye on Wednesday after Turkish authorities said NATO air defences shot down a projectile over the Eastern Mediterranean.

NATO condemned that launch, expressing its “full solidarity” with Turkiye.

“This is a tangible demonstration of the Alliance’s ability to defend our populations against all threats, including those posed by ballistic missiles,” NATO said of the interception.

Article 5 of the alliance’s North Atlantic Treaty says an attack on one NATO country will be considered an attack on all. It also commits each NATO member state to taking action deemed necessary “to restore and maintain” security.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency last week after the first ballistic missile heading towards Turkiye was shot down, NATO chief Mark Rutte said there was no talk of invoking Article 5.

Iranian authorities have said they are firing at US military bases and other US- and Israel-linked targets across the region in self-defence, but civilian infrastructure has also been attacked.

“Iran’s targets are not just US bases; they are, in fact, primarily large-scale infrastructure and civilian targets as well,” said Rob Geist Pinfold, a lecturer in defence studies at King’s College London.

“This is not a mistake. This is by design,” Pinfold told Al Jazeera, explaining that Tehran is seeking to “unleash as much chaos as possible to destabilise the region and global markets” in an effort to force Washington to abandon the war.

“We’ve seen that Iran is targeting every single [Gulf Cooperation Council] state. It’s prepared to burn its bridges with all of them to pursue this very uncertain and high-risk strategy,” he said.

“It really shows you how Iran feels like it’s facing an existential threat. For them, this is a real do-or-die moment.”

March 4 (UPI) — NATO air and missile defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran heading toward Turkish airspace on Wednesday.

The Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced that the ballistic missile had crossed Iraqi and Syrian airspace before being neutralized by NATO air defenses posted in the Mediterranean Sea. There were no casualties or injuries.

“Our resolve and capacity to ensure the security of our country and citizens are at the highest level,” the Ministry of Defense said in a press release translated from Turkish. “While Turkey supports regional stability and peace, it is capable of ensuring the security of its territory and citizens, regardless of who or where the threat comes from.”

The ministry did not say what it believed the intended target of the missile to be.

The Iranian missile is the first fired toward NATO territory since the conflict began. It followed a warning from Tehran that European countries supporting the United States and Israel would face retaliation from Iran.

Iran has launched missiles and drones toward countries in the Middle East that have a U.S. military presence in response to the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

“NATO stands firmly with all allies, including Turkey, as Iran continues its indiscriminate attacks across the region,” Allison Hart, NATO spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense.”

After being intercepted, debris from the missile fell in the Turkish province Hatay in south-central Turkey near the Syrian border.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a social media post on Tuesday that he wishes to see a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict.

“We do not wish to witness conflict, war, tension and massacre right next door,” Erdogan said. “Our stance on the illegal attacks targeting Iran is also in this direction.

The U.S. war effort against Iran was “accelerating” as American and Israeli forces fought for control of Iranian airspace and pressed farther inland to seek and destroy Iranian missile capabilities, top U.S. officials said Wednesday.

“Four days in, we have only just begun to fight,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“The throttle is coming up,” said Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

However, a reported Iranian missile strike at NATO member Turkey — intercepted by NATO defense systems — was not expected to immediately broaden the war theater by triggering a NATO clause requiring other member nations to get involved, Hegseth said.

Hegseth, striking an unapologetic tone, said Iran’s surviving leadership “don’t know what plays to call” after exhausting initial retaliatory strategies devised prior to the U.S. assault, while the U.S. is firing on all fronts and stacking up wins — including an American submarine recently sinking an Iranian warship with a torpedo in international waters, which Hegseth called the first such sinking since World War II.

“We are just getting started. We are accelerating, not decelerating,” he said. “We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to.”

Caine, striking a far more measured tone at the Pentagon briefing, spoke of the “sacrifice” of the six U.S. service members who have been killed in the conflict to date and the “clear military objectives” of the operation, which include dismantling “Iran’s ability to project power outside of its borders, both today and into the future.”

And he said the U.S. has made “steady progress” toward those goals in recent hours. He said Iran’s “ballistic missile shots” were down 86% from the first day of fighting, and down 23% “just in the last 24 hours.” He said their “one-way attack drone shots” are down 73% from the “opening days” of the war.

That has allowed the U.S. to establish “localized air superiority across the southern flank of the Iranian coast and penetrate their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower,” Caine said. “We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S. forces.”

Hegseth and Caine spoke against a backdrop of escalating destruction across the Persian Gulf region, as Iran — which Hegseth acknowledged is a “formidable” enemy — continued to unleash a wave of retaliatory strikes and Israel pushed into Lebanon and against Iran-allied Hezbollah fighters there.

Their message of U.S. control in the region belied chaos in many parts of it — as sirens blared in Bahrain, U.S. and other foreign citizens scrambled to flee the area, global air traffic was in disarray and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for the flow of global energy, was down by about 90%, according to the Associated Press.

Turkey’s defense ministry announced Wednesday that NATO air defenses had shot down a ballistic missile fired toward Turkish airspace from Iran, which raised additional questions about a rapidly expanding footprint of the war given that Turkey is a NATO member and protected by a treaty clause — Article 5 — stating that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Hegseth said the U.S. was aware of the strike, but that he did not believe it would trigger Article 5 or force all of NATO into the conflict — which has already drawn in nations throughout the Gulf region as Iran has targeted U.S. allies and military facilities.

Hegseth jettisoned any pretense of constraint or measured force by the U.S., instead casting its operations as an all-out assault on “radical Islamist Iranian adversaries” that he suggested both Democrats and the U.S. media were badly misrepresenting to make President Trump look bad.

He suggested the U.S. media was overly focused on losses, such as the deaths of U.S. military personnel, and not nearly focused enough on the progress the U.S. has made toward destroying Iran’s military capabilities in a matter of days.

“They are toast, and they know it — or at least soon enough they will know it,” he said of Iran. “And we’ve only just begun to hunt, dismantle, demoralize, destroy and defeat their capabilities, just four days in.”

He said that the U.S. and Israel in “under a week” will “have complete control of Iranian skies — uncontested air space,” which he said will mean that “we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military, finding and fixing their leaders and their military leaders.”

“Death and destruction from the sky, all day long,” he said. “We’re playing for keeps.”

It was unclear what exactly Hegseth meant by that, given the Trump administration’s constant messaging that the war on Iran will not be another “endless” engagement for the U.S. in the Middle East.

The U.S. was using rules of engagement that are “bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it,” Hegseth said. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”

Disruptions to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and their potential effect on global and U.S. gas prices, were clearly on Trump’s mind. On Tuesday, he posted to his Truth Social platform that the U.S. would be providing wartime insurance for “ALL Maritime Trade” through Gulf shipping lanes — as other insurers began canceling coverage — and that the U.S. Navy would begin escorting tankers if necessary.

“No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD,” he wrote.

The message drew immediate concern from some of Trump’s political opponents, who questioned the cost to the U.S. of securing energy shipments for the entire world, including rivals such as China, one of the largest purchasers of crude oil from the region.

“Very few, if any, of these tankers are coming to the United States,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) wrote on X. “This certainly looks like the United States will be subsidizing and protecting oil shipments to China.”