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25Aug08
U.S. missile shield is a new version of Star Wars
Iran’s ambassador to Warsaw, Hadi Farajvand, calls U.S. missile shield plan in Poland an "updated version of the Star Wars" and says the plan does not pose "any threat" to Iran.
The reason behind the plan is that the United States wants to "counter Russia" and establish its "strategic superiority" in different parts of the world, the ambassador noted.
Farajvand said after the cold war Russia has been the only country which has been challenging the U.S. strategic superiority and that is why Washington is trying to modernize the proposed Star Wars in the form of a missile defense shield.
"Therefore we should interpret this plan as a revised version of the Star Wars," the ambassador tells the Mehr News Agency.
Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed on March 23, 1983, the creation of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an ambitious project that would construct a space-based anti-missile system. This program was immediately dubbed "Star Wars."
The SDI was intended to defend the United States from attack from Soviet ICBMs by intercepting the missiles at various phases of their flight.
After two years of difficult negotiations the United States and Poland signed an agreement on the construction of components the missile shield in Poland on August 20 in Warsaw.
The U.S. claims the missile system is intended to protect the West against what it calls attacks from so-called 'rogue states' such as Iran and North Korea.
The missile shield will consist of ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic.
Moscow has said the missile shield is aimed at Russia and is fiercely opposed to it. The Russian Foreign Ministry said its response to the shield "would go beyond diplomacy" and said the deal was creating a new arms race in the European "continent and beyond its borders."
Impacts of Georgia war on missile shield
On the impacts of the Russia-Georgia war on signing the missile deal, Farajvand said, "It should not be forgotten that the Americans have been trying to install this missile shield in Eastern Europe since times ago."
However, he said one should not underestimate this reality that the Georgia conflict "accelerated the process of negotiations between Poland and the U.S."
He said it is in fact the Polish side who has been using the war between Russia and Georgia as a pretext to ‘convince the public opinion’ to take a ‘practical step’ toward deploying U.S. interceptor missiles in Eastern Europe.
The ambassador added Iran has not made any recommendation to the Polish officials about the missile plan because it is a "domestic issue" and it by no means pose any "threat" to Iran.
The ambassador insisted that Tehran believes that the placing of the missile shield in Poland will not be a threat to the country because Iran’s missiles "have nothing to do with European countries" and even they don’t "reach Europe" and Iran has "no plans to develop such long-range missiles".
Iran-Poland ties growing
He further noted there is no problem which can halt a development of ties between Iran and Poland.
He said Iran’s ties with Poland are growing.
He said Iran-Poland relations are "friendly" which date back to more than 500-years ago and have always been based on mutual respect and the two sides are seeking to expand this relationship.
[Source: Mehr News Agency, Tehran, Irn, 25Aug08]
 | This document has been published on 26Aug08 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |