NATO's Rutte praises US, Israeli military action against Iran but says alliance won't be involved

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday praised U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran, saying it was degrading Tehran's ability to get its hands on nuclear and ballistic missile capability, but he said NATO itself would not be involved.

"It's really important what the U.S. is doing here, together with Israel, because it is taking out, degrading the capacity of Iran to get its hands on nuclear capability, the ballistic missile capability," he told Germany's ARD television in Brussels.

"There are absolutely no plans whatever for NATO to get dragged into this or being part of it, other than individual allies doing what they can to enable what the Americans are doing together with Israel," he added.

(Reporting by Andrew Gray and Lili Bayer, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)