NEW YORK, March 17. /TASS/. NATO as an organization is unlikely to provide the US and Israel with military aid in an operation against Iran, including the dispatch of vessels to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment Wendy Gilmour told Canada’s CBC radio station.

"At the moment, I am not seeing a scenario with NATO as an institution, as an organization, sending in forces [in the Middle East], whether they be vessels or anything else," she said. The former assistant explained that NATO is a defense organization and that its charter includes Article 5, which provides for a collective response in the event of an armed attack on one or more member states within the Euro-Atlantic region.

According to Gilmour, there is a possibility that Turkey, a NATO member state that currently intercepts Iranian missiles using the alliance’s systems, may request additional aid from NATO. "But for NATO as an institution to come in and support of US-led and Israeli-led efforts to attack Iran, I think is an unlikely prospect at best," the former NATO assistant emphasized.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump told The Financial Times that he had demanded that NATO member states help ensure the safety of maritime navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. In turn, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced that the top diplomats of EU member states had refused to send military vessels to the Strait of Hormuz, including ships currently in the Red Sea as part of the European Aspides military mission.