US:President George Bush has described the need for a missile defence system in Europe as "real and urgent", warning that some European countries could soon be vulnerable to attack from Iran.
In a speech at Washington's National Defence University, Mr Bush said Iran was already developing missiles that could strike Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia and that Tehran could be in a position to hit all of Europe and part of the US by 2015.
"If it chooses to do so, and the international community does not take steps to prevent it, it is possible Iran could have this capability. And we need to take it seriously - now. Today, we have no way to defend Europe against the emerging Iranian threat, so we must deploy a missile defence system there that can," he said.
The US wants to deploy 10 ground-based interceptors located in Poland and a tracking radar located in the Czech Republic. The proposal has been resisted in Europe, notably in some of the countries Mr Bush says it is designed to protect. Donald Tusk, who is expected to be Poland's new prime minister, has expressed scepticism about the plan and Russian president Vladimir Putin has made clear he views it as a threat to Russia.
Seeking to reassure Moscow that the proposed missile system would not be directed towards Russia, Mr Bush stressed that it would be limited in scope. "The missile defences we can employ would be easily overwhelmed by Russia's nuclear arsenal. Russia has hundreds of missiles and thousands of warheads. We're planning to deploy 10 interceptors in Europe. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math," he said.
Also yesterday defence secretary Robert Gates said the US might delay activating parts of the project if Russia co-operated with it. Mr Gates said this was one of the proposals he and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice put forward in talks with Russian officials to try to ease Moscow's concerns.
The president's remarks came as Democrats in Congress criticised his demand for an extra $46 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing his war funding request for 2008 to almost $200 billion. Mr Bush wants Congress to approve the new funding before Christmas but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats were more interested in securing funds for domestic policies such as the expansion of free healthcare for needy children, a move vetoed by the president this month.
