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Two NATO Members Say Russian Drones Have Violated Their Airspace

A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)
A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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Two NATO Members Say Russian Drones Have Violated Their Airspace

A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)
A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)

Two NATO members said Sunday that Russian drones have violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day.

A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, Romania's Ministry of National Defense reported. It added Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions.

It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited zone along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

Later on Sunday, Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Sprūds said that a Russian drone fell the day before near the town of Rezekne, and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighboring Belarus.

Rezekne, home to over 25,000 people, lies some 55 kilometers (34 miles) west of Russia and around 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close and dependent ally.

While the incursion into Latvian airspace appeared to be a rare incident, Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on several occasions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, as recently as July this year.

Mircea Geoana, NATO's outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania's former top diplomat, said on Sunday morning that the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace. “While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on X.

Latvia's military on Sunday similarly said that there were no indications that Moscow or Minsk purposely sent a drone into the country. In a public statement, the military said it had identified the crash site, and that a probe was ongoing.

Sprūds, the Latvian defense minister, sought to downplay the significance of the drone incursion.

“I can confirm that there are no victims here and also no property is infringed in any way,” Defense Minister Andris Sprūds told the Latvian Radio on Sunday, adding that any risks in the event were immediately eliminated: “Of course, it is a serious incident, as it is once again a reminder of what kind of neighboring countries we live next to.”

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Ships with Missile Propellant Ingredient Reportedly Set to Sail from China to Iran

A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Ships with Missile Propellant Ingredient Reportedly Set to Sail from China to Iran

A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A picture shows copies of Iranian daily newspapers, including 'Sazandegi' (C) showing on its front page a picture of US President Donald Trump and a headline in Farsi reading 'Again Trump' at a newsstand in Tehran on January 21, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Two Iranian cargo vessels carrying an ingredient for missile propellant will sail from China to Iran in the next few weeks, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing intelligence from security officials in two Western countries.

The reported transactions could make the Chinese entities involved subject to US sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's weapons programs, as the two Iranian vessels are already under US sanctions.

The FT said the Iranian-flagged ships, the Golbon and the Jairan, are expected to carry more than 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, which is used to make ammonium perchlorate, the main ingredient for solid propellant for missiles.

Ammonium perchlorate is among chemicals controlled by the Missile Technology Export Control Regime, a voluntary international anti-proliferation body, Reuters reported.

The FT report cited two unnamed officials as saying that the sodium perchlorate could produce 960 tons of ammonium perchlorate, enough to make 1,300 tons of propellant, which could fuel 260 mid-range Iranian missiles.

The officials said the sodium perchlorate was being shipped to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and that 34 20-foot (six-meter) containers containing the chemical had been loaded onto the Golbon, which departed the Chinese island of Daishan on Tuesday and was off the coast of Ningbo in China’s Zhejiang province early on Wednesday.

The FT said the Jairan is expected to depart China with 22 containers in early February. The officials told the FT that both ships, owned by Iranian entities, were expected to make the three-week voyage to Iran without making any port calls.
The officials said the chemicals were loaded onto the Golbon at Taicang, a port just north of Shanghai, and were destined for Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on the Arabian Gulf.

The FT said the officials could not say if Beijing was aware of the shipments.

The spokesperson for China's Washington embassy, Liu Pengyu, said he was not familiar with the situation reported by the FT.

Doug Jacobson, a Washington-based sanctions lawyer, said that while UN sanctions on Iran's missile program were no longer in effect, the Chinese entities involved in the reported transactions could face US sanctions against dealings with both the IRGC and the already sanctioned vessels.

Vann Van Diepen, a retired US non-proliferation official, said Chinese entities had been helping Iran's missile program since the 1980s. He said Iran probably had its own ammonia perchlorate production facility by now, but may need feedstock to make the chemical.

"It's probably not sort of a continuous flow thing," he said. "But from time to time, over these many years, these kinds of shipments will go on."

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but an official there, who did not want to be identified, said that if the missiles were designed to be used by
Russia in Ukraine, the shipment could be subject to US sanctions to curb dealings with Moscow.

In 2023, The United States imposed sanctions on people and entities in China, Hong Kong and Iran, including Iran's defense attache in Beijing, over accusations they helped procure parts and technology for Iran's ballistic missile development. It imposed similar sanctions on individuals and entities last year.