Obama: Restraining Iran will decrease need for missile shield

While denying reported 'quid pro quo' nature of letter sent to Russia's Medvedev, US President Obama confirms his administration's stance that need for much-contested missile defense array in Europe would decrease in proportion to Iranian threat

Yitzhak Benhorin|Published: 03.03.09 , 20:13

WASHINGTON – US President Barak Obama said on Tuesday that if the world can prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms, the need for placing a missile defense system on European soil would greatly decrease.

Obama further said the US and Russia, which greatly contests the American shield array, should work to improve their relationship, making clear he believed Washington needs to "reset or reboot" its ties to Moscow.

The US president dismissed as 'inaccurate' the New York Times' report on the nature of a letter he sent to Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. Obama said offered no "quid pro quo" to Russia in the letter, which the Times reported as hinting a US missile deal could be ditched if Moscow deters Iran from developing long-range arms.

"The way it got characterized I think was as some sort of quid pro quo," Obama said. "It was simply a statement of fact that I've made previously, which is that the missile defense program, to the extent that it is deployed is designed to deal with not a Russian threat but an Iranian threat."

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Medvedev confirmed he and Obama had discussed the matter over the phone and exchanged letters with him, but added that there was "no talk about some kind of trade-off."

Speaking at a news conference in Madrid following a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Medvedev reaffirmed Russia's strong opposition to the previous US administration's plan to deploy a battery of missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic, saying the move would hurt security in Europe.

Medvedev said that Russia was encouraged by Obama's administration's readiness to discuss Moscow's

complaints.

"Now I hope the situation is different," Medvedev added. "But no one is linking these issues to some kind of trade-offs, particularly on the Iranian issue. We are already working in close contact with our US counterparts on the Iranian nuclear issue."

A senior US official told The Associated Press that the suggestion in Obama's letter to Medvedev was that the need for a missile defense deployment "could become unnecessary if, working together with Russia, the Iran missile threat is addressed."