Zeenews Bureau
Washington: The United States plans to shelve plans for a missile defence system based in Poland and the Czech Republic, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
It is a move "likely to cheer Moscow and roil the security debate in Europe," the report said.
"The US will base its decision on a determination that Iran`s long-range missile program has not progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the continental US and major European capitals," the report said, citing unnamed current and former US officials.
"The findings, expected to be completed as early as next week following a 60-day review ordered by President Barack Obama, would be a major reversal from the Bush administration, which pushed aggressively to begin construction of the Eastern European system before leaving office in January," the report added.
Former president George W Bush`s administration proposed the system to counter its perceived threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon that could be carried by its increasingly sophisticated missiles.
Russia was a staunch opponent of the system which it has seen as a threat to its own security.
Obama`s top military adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, said on Wednesday that the administration was "very close" to the end of a seven-month review of a missile defence shield proposal, an idea that was promoted by the George W Bush administration. Mullen would not divulge its results.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates scheduled a news conference on Thursday with a top military leader, Marine Gen James Cartwright, who has been a point man on the technical challenge of arraying missiles and interceptors to defend against long-range missiles that an aggressor such as Iran might lob at the US or its allies. Two military officials said the news conference would concern the missile defence plans.
Obama took office undecided about whether to continue to press for the European system and said he would study it. His administration never sounded enthusiastic about the plan, and European allies have been preparing for an announcement that the White House would not complete the shield as designed.
The decision comes as the Obama administration has been seeking closer ties with Moscow and as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is preparing to visit the United States next week for the UN General Assembly and the Group of 20 nations economic summit.
The plan for a European shield was a darling of the Bush administration, which reached deals to install 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic — eastern European nations at Russia`s doorstep and once under Soviet sway.
At an Army missile defence conference last month, Cartwright, who is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested that the US may have underestimated how long it would take Iran to develop long-range missiles. That was seen as a clue that the administration might be backing away from the European plan as devised.
Military officials at the conference discussed possible alternatives for European missile defence, including using shorter-range interceptors from other locations closer to Iran.
Cartwright also has discussed ways the United States might join forces with other nations to watch and protect against Iranian missiles. Using multiple sensors, including some in the Persian Gulf region, theoretically could provide at least a partial shield for Eastern Europe without basing a full radar and interceptor system so close to Russia.
