In an interview with al-Manar TV on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Turkey has said it will neither participate in any military action against Iran nor allow its airspace to be used for such a move. He later said the Patriot missiles in Turkey are in the hands of NATO and the West, not Ankara -- refuting Turkish officials' statements to the contrary -- and that they were deployed in Turkey to protect Israel.
"Iran, however, believes that Western countries and NATO have deployed the system in Turkey with the aim of supporting the Zionist regime so that in case of an Israeli military venture against Iran and Iran responding to such a measure, Western countries can safeguard Israel with the help of the missile system," Mehmanparast told al-Manar.