The head of the U.S. anti-missile program says North Korea is helping Iran develop missiles that could reach Europe. “We know that they are collaborating,” Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters at a press conference April 23 at the U.S. Embassy in Prague.U.S. officials say a missile-defense system, with missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic, would protect Europe in the event that Iran developed long-range ballistic missiles.
Obering said the United States believes Iran could have such weapons in four to five years, based on the pattern North Korea established when it developed its long-range missiles. Furthermore, he said, despite arms-reductions deals, these types of weapons have continued to proliferate throughout the world.
Obering was in the Czech Republic to meet with President Václav Klaus, officials from the Defense Ministry and lawmakers. “The purpose of my visit is to share as much information as I possibly can,” Obering said during the brief press conference.
His visit, which comes after a similar trip to Poland earlier in the week, coincides with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert GatesÂ’ trip to Moscow to allay Russian concerns about the plan. Gates floated a plan to link Russian and U.S. missile-defense systems in an attempt to quell staunch Russian opposition. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that if the United States stations the shield in Eastern Europe, Russia would develop a system to overcome it.
Talks between the two countries will continue over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg was in Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice is expected to travel to Norway later in the week to discuss the proposed missile shield with NATO allies.
Sounds like a full-court press.