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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newly acquired F-16 fighter jets as Romania brings its obsolete military equipment up to NATO standards and phases out outdated communist-era MiGs.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, Russia and China Hold Joint Naval Exercises in Gulf of Oman

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy missile corvette at sea during the “Maritime Security Belt 2024” combined naval exercise between Iran, Russia, and China in the Gulf of Oman, March 12, 2024. (Iranian Army office/AFP)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy missile corvette at sea during the “Maritime Security Belt 2024” combined naval exercise between Iran, Russia, and China in the Gulf of Oman, March 12, 2024. (Iranian Army office/AFP)
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Iran, Russia and China Hold Joint Naval Exercises in Gulf of Oman

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy missile corvette at sea during the “Maritime Security Belt 2024” combined naval exercise between Iran, Russia, and China in the Gulf of Oman, March 12, 2024. (Iranian Army office/AFP)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy missile corvette at sea during the “Maritime Security Belt 2024” combined naval exercise between Iran, Russia, and China in the Gulf of Oman, March 12, 2024. (Iranian Army office/AFP)

The navies of Iran, Russia and China will hold military drills in southeast Iran on the Gulf of Oman, this week in a bid to boost cooperation, Iranian media reported on Sunday.
The three countries, which share a common desire to counter what they characterize as US hegemony, have held similar exercises in the region in recent years.
The drills “will begin on Tuesday in the port of Chabahar,” located in southeast Iran on the Gulf of Oman, said the Tasnim news agency, a semi-official news agency in Iran associated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
It did not specify their duration.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the exercise, codenamed “Security Belt 2025,” will kick off on Monday.
“Warships and combat and support vessels of the Chinese and Russian naval forces, as well as the warships of Iran’s naval forces of the army and the Revolutionary Guards” are expected to participate, according to AFP.
The exercises will take place “in the northern Indian Ocean” and aim to “strengthen security in the region and expand multilateral cooperation between participating countries,” Tasnim said.
Azerbaijan, South Africa, Oman, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka will attend as observers.
China will deploy “a destroyer and a supply ship,” the Chinese Defense Ministry said on the WeChat social media network.
The Iranian army conducted drills in the same area in February to “strengthen defense capabilities against any threat.”
Tehran has in recent months announced new additions to its conventional weaponry, such as its first drone carrier and an underground naval base amid rising tensions with the US and its regional arch-enemy Israel.