Washington - Iran's ballistic missile tests on Wednesday
show the Russians are wrong to downplay the Iranian threat in their
case against US plans for a missile-defence system in Eastern
Europe, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
'This certainly addresses the doubts raised by the Russians that
the Iranians won't have a longer-range ballistic missile for 10
years to 20 years,' Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.
'My view in the first instance is ... as we've talked about
missile defense in Europe, that there is a real threat,' he added.
'And it seems to me that the test this morning underscores that.'
The United States wants to deploy a missile-defence system in the
Czech Republic and Poland to counter Iran's growing ballistic
missile capability. But Moscow strongly opposes the plans, arguing
the system would undermine its strategic deterrent.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday signed deal
with the Czech Republic in Prague, which has agreed to host the
radar site, pending parliamentary approval.
US officials are trying to wrap up an agreement with Poland,
but those negotiations have hit a snag over Warsaw's demands for
increased US military assistance in return for hosting 10
interceptor missiles.
Iran upped tension in the Middle East by launching nine long- and
medium-range missiles capable of striking Israel, US military forces
in the Gulf and Europe. Iranian state media reported it was a
warning to 'enemies' who threaten Tehran.
'I call on the enemy to be careful with their policies as we are
watching them wherever they are,' General Hossein Salami, commander
of the air wing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, said.
US President George W Bush has not ruled out the use of military
force over suspicions that Iran is seeking a capability to build
nuclear weapons, but has said he is committed to resolving the
dispute diplomatically.
Israel last month held military exercises in the Mediterranean
Sea reportedly as a training mission for a possible strike on Iran.
The United States has sought to internationally isolate Iran over
its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used
to build nuclear weapons but which Iran says is only for nuclear
reactor fuel for producing energy.
The UN Security Council has passed three resolutions applying
limited sanctions on Iran over the uranium enrichment.
'The Iranian regime only furthers the isolation of the Iranian
people from the international community when it engages in this sort
of activity,' Gordon Johndoe, the White House spokesman for Bush's
National Security Council, said Wednesday.
The United States, along with the four other countries on the
Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russia - plus Germany,
have offered Iran improved economic and diplomatic relations to
persuade Tehran to halt uranium enrichment and begin negotiations.
Iran 'should also refrain from further missile tests if they
truly seek to gain the trust of the world,' Johndroe said.
USA
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