The US has decided to revamp its missile shield program in eastern Europe, moving away from a large fixed system toward one better able to counter an Iranian short and medium-range missile threat, a US defense official said yesterday.
“This does get away from the big fixed-based radar and field concept and focuses on a layered versatile adaptive system,” the official said, indicating that intelligence shows Iran is now focused on shorter-range missiles rather than intercontinental rockets.
A Pentagon spokesman said the White House would have an announcement later yesterday to discuss “a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system.”
Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer had earlier announced that US President Barack Obama had decided to scrap the missile shield plans for the Czech Republic and Poland that had so angered Russia.
NATO’s new chief hailed the move as “a positive step” and a Russian analyst said Obama’s decision would increase the chances that Russia would cooperate more closely with the US in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Fischer told reporters that Obama phoned him overnight to say that “his government is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory.”
“The same happened with Poland. Poland was informed in the same way about this intention,” Fischer said.
He said Obama assured him that the “strategic cooperation” between the Czech Republic and the US would continue, and that Washington considers the Czechs among its closest allies.
In Poland, officials declined to confirm Fischer’s remarks, saying they were waiting for a formal announcement from Washington.
The plan, proposed by the Bush administration, aimed to defend the US and its European allies against a possible missile attack from Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East.
Obama took office undecided about the European system and said he would study it.
“The US president’s decision is a well thought [out] and systematic one,” said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. “It reflects understanding that any security measure can’t be built entirely on the basis of one nation.”
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