Romanian President to review US request to use local air base for Iran operations

Romanian President Nicusor Dan has convened the EU and NATO nation's top defence council on Wednesday to discuss whether to allow U.S. aircraft access to its military bases for support linked to its Tehran operations, political sources said.

The council will meet for the first time this year to discuss the security fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, its impact on Romania's energy market and "the temporary deployment of military capability on Romanian territory."

That deployment, political sources said without elaborating, referred to a U.S. request to use the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base.

While some EU countries--such as France, Greece and Italy-- have sent warships to Cyprus after Iranian-made drones struck a British base on the island, others allow use of their military bases.

SOME 1,000 US TROOPS REMAIN IN ROMANIA

Most EU top officials have condemned Iranian strikes in the region and urged an end and diplomatic solution to the conflict.

The U.S. withdrew about 1,000 troops from Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu air base last year, as the U.S. focused on its own borders and the Indo-Pacific region. Another 1,000 U.S. troops remain in Romania.

The permanent allied presence in Romania stands at around 3,500 NATO troops, including U.S. soldiers.

Romania shares a 650 km (400 mile) land border with Ukraine, over which Russian drones have flown towards Kyiv, while mines in the Black Sea from the conflict impact key trade and energy routes.

-Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Bernadette Baum/Reuters