NATO ready to answer any potential threat 24/7, following new drone detection in Romania

On Thursday, NATO confirmed that the two F-18 Spanish planes deployed in Romania, in the morning after detecting a drone in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine, were under the command of the Atlantic Alliance, which had declared ready to answer any potential threats 24 hours a day, seven days a week, EFE informed.   “We can confirm that two Spanish F-18 planes took off during the night to monitor the situation after detecting air activity in the vicinity of the Romanian border with Ukraine. The planes operated under NATO command,”an alliance official declared for EFE.   According to the quoted source the organization remains in close contact with Romanian authorities about this type of incidents.   The two F-18 airplanes, deployed in Romania as part of NATO consolidated air police, took off on Thursday morning, when the Romanian Defense Ministry activated an alarm at 2:23, after the detection of several air objects in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine.   “At 3:21, a drone entered the national air space, 13 km east of Galati. At 3:24, the crew of airplane IAR-330 SOCAT reported that the target had fallen 4 km north-east of Grindu, Tulcea county, in an unpopulated area. The impact with the ground of the air vehicle was followed by a fire which died by itself. No victims or material damages were reported,” the Defense Ministry informed on Thursday.   On August 16, a Spanish F-18 plane shot down a drone which had violated the Romanian air space.   Romania has over 600 km of common border with Ukraine, which has been in a state of war with Russia since 2022.   Separately, according to Financial Times, NATO declared on Thursday, referring to the supposed Iranian threat against American military targets in Europe, that it was ready to answer such a possibility and engaged to defend all allied countries. NATO had made a statement in that respect on Wednesday.   An Atlantic Alliance official told EFE that NATO was ready to approach any threat and would always do what was needed to defend all allies.   In her turn, Anita Hipper, the EC spokesperson indicated that Brussels wanted to make appeal to the restraint of all parties and to renewed diplomatic efforts. In that context, she added that, from the EU point of view, only diplomacy could bring a durable solution to all delayed problems.   Moreover, Hipper praised regional partners for their mediation efforts. The British publication Financial Times (FT) wrote on Wednesday that Iran considered attacking American military targets in Europe and that US president Donald Trump was escalating the war.   Two sources of the Tehran regime told FT that Iranian forces had analysed the option to attack Wmerican targets in south-eastern Europe, for instance Bulgaria, which approved last month the use of its air base Bezmer for refueling American aircraft.   One of the sources added that Cyprus, where a British air base had been hit by a drone in March, is also among possible targets in case of new American attacks. The same sources indicated that Iranian forces had evaluated the possibility of hitting underwater optic fiber cables in the Strait of Hormuz in case the conflict escalates.