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Romania Receives US Patriot Missiles to Bolster Defenses

A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]
A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]
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Romania Receives US Patriot Missiles to Bolster Defenses

A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]
A photograph made available on 13 February 2016 showing a patriot missile system unveiled by the US military during the joint South Korea-US aerial exercise Max Thunder in 2014. [Stringer/EPA]

The Romanian army received its first shipment of US Raytheon Patriot surface-to-air missiles on Thursday to boost its defenses.

“Romania has just become a safer nation by hosting these Patriot missiles on its territory. Romanian citizens are now better protected,” Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said at the receiving ceremony at a firing range on the Black Sea shore.

The missiles will form part of an integrated air defense system comprising newly acquired F-16 fighter jets as Romania brings its obsolete military equipment up to NATO standards and phases out outdated communist-era MiGs.

Worth about $4 billion, the system is an important element of the European Union and NATO member’s overhaul program as it seeks to deter any threat from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said Moscow views US missiles in eastern Europe as a great danger, and Moscow would be forced to respond by enhancing its own missile strike capability.

The US has demanded that NATO members gradually boost their defense budgets to 2% of GDP and Romania, a close US ally, was among first in Europe to do so, Reuters reported.

Romania also hosts a US ballistic missile defense station and has contributed combat troops to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Iran Pauses Process to Implement Stricter Headscarf Law for Women, Official Says

FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
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Iran Pauses Process to Implement Stricter Headscarf Law for Women, Official Says

FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran has paused the process of implementing a new, stricter law on women’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, an official said.

The controversial law, which was approved by the parliament in September 2023, will not be sent to the government as planned this week, according to one of the country's vice presidents. The development effectively means that Iran has halted enacting the legislation.

The law levies harsher punishments for women who refuse to wear the hijab and for businesses that serve them, penalties previously rejected by Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian as he tries to restart talks with the West over sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.

“According to the discussions held, it was decided that this law will not be referred to the government by the parliament for now,” Shahram Dabiri, the vice president in charge of parliamentary affairs, was quoted as saying in an interview Monday with the pro-reform Ham Mihan daily.

The decision to halt the legislation — at least temporarily — was reached by top executive, legislative and judiciary bodies, The Associated Press quoted Dabiri as saying. At the moment, it is “not feasible to implement this bill,” he added, without elaborating.

Had the bill passed to the government, Iran's president would have had little room to maneuver. By law, he’s required to endorse the bill within five days, after which it would have taken effect in 15 days. The president has no authority to veto it.

Pezeshkian could try to convince Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, to halt the bill.

If the bill had been enacted, Pezeshkian could also refuse to act on it or urge police not to enforce it, setting up a potential constitutional crisis that hard-liners could try to exploit to weaken him.

The president had earlier described the law as having “many questions and ambiguities.”