(Reuters) - The Obama Administration plans to complete an anti-ballistic missile shield to protect European allies against Iran "whether Russia likes it or not," the U.S. envoy to NATO said on Friday. Moscow's objections to the project, which includes participation by Romania, Poland, Turkey and Spain, "won't be the driving force in what we do," Ivo Daalder, the ambassador, told reporters at a breakfast session.
The U.S. estimate of the Iranian ballistic missile threat has gone up, not down, over the two years since President Barack Obama opted for a new, four-phased deployment to protect the United States and NATO allies, Daalder said.
"It's accelerating," Daalder said of the U.S.-perceived threat of Iran's ballistic missiles, "and becoming more severe than even we thought two years ago."
"We're deploying all four phases, in order to deal with that threat, whether Russia likes it or not," he added. At the same time, he urged Moscow to cooperate in both to deal with Iran and to see for itself that, as he put it, the system's capabilities pose its strategic deterrent force no threat.
If the perceived threat from Iran ebbs, "then maybe the system will be adapted to that lesser threat," Daalder said.
Obama pleased the Kremlin in September 2009 by scrapping his predecessor's plan for longer-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar installation in the Czech Republic, a move that helped to improve U.S.-Russian ties.
But Moscow says that the revised version, using land- and sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptors, could undermine its security if planned interceptor improvements become capable of neutralizing Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent force......read on
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