Iran poses no threat to US
US: Iran poses no threat to the United States, Russia said Tuesday,
rebuffing a key argument of President Barack Obama on whether to go
ahead with a European missile shield bitterly opposed by Moscow.
Former president George W. Bush had infuriated Russia by striking a
deal to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and related radar
stations in the Czech Republic, saying they were needed to counter
“rogue states” such as Iran.
The Obama administration says it is reviewing the shield project,
studying whether it is militarily justified and cost effective.
But Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, said
that the Iran threat was a myth.
“I don’t see any threat to the United States coming from Iran anytime
soon,” Kislyak told a conference of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace.
He said the shield in the former Soviet bloc nations also failed to
cover all of the NATO alliance.
“It didn’t accomplish a single stated goal that we were told was the
reason to deploy. If that was the case, that means there was something
else behind this,” Kislyak said.
Western nations widely suspect that Iran is developing nuclear
weapons, although Obama has also reached out to try to repair relations
with the Islamic republic.
Kislyak said that Russia was encouraged by Obama’s approach. Under
Bush, Russia engaged in some of the harshest rhetorical attacks on the
United States since the Cold War.
“We sense that the American administration is willing at least to
engage in serious discussions and we welcome this,” he said.
WASHINGTON, AFP
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