Russia: Iran's current missile range too short for threat

ANS PRESS-July 11, 2008

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the results of recent Iranian missile tests proved that US plans for a defence shield in Europe were unnecessary.

There is no military justification for US plans to deploy missile defences in eastern Europe because Tehran's rockets cannot travel that far, Russia said today.The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the results of recent Iranian missile tests proved that US plans for a defence shield in Europe were unnecessary.

"The tests in Iran have only confirmed that Iran at the moment has rockets with a range of up to 2,000 km [1,243 miles]. That confirms what we have said before," he said.

His statement follows a claim yesterday from the director of the US missile defence agency, Lieutenant General Henry Obering, that the Iranian tests "emphasise the urgency of what we are doing".

"So what will they be able to do in three or four, five years?" Obering asked. "They're increasing the range of these missiles. I believe very strongly that they will have the ability to target most of Europe in the next couple of years with these missiles." Lavrov today told reporters in Moscow that Russia continued to be "convinced of the invented nature of discussions about the Iranian rocket threat as a motive for the deployment of the missile shield in Europe".

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