The U.S. is going ahead with its missile defense plans for Europe despite talkes with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday, two days before the next round of nuclear negotiations with Iranian regime in Geneva, The Wall Street Journal reported from Warsaw.
The U.S. expects to put land-based missile interceptors in northern Poland by 2018, three years after a site in Romania is expected to become operational. The base in Poland will seek to protect Europe and the U.S. from missile attacks that could be launched mainly from Iran.
On the only European stop of his weeklong tour that centers on the Middle East, Mr. Kerry was asked Tuesday if that element of the system could be abandoned, considering U.S. diplomacy and international talks going on with Iran over its nuclear program. Mr. Kerry said that those talks wouldn’t change the U.S. plan for Europe.
“There is no agreement with Iran, nothing has changed and the plans for missile defense are absolutely on target,” Mr. Kerry said.
“We intend to provide for the next phase by 2018 and will deploy that site by that period of time. Nothing has changed at this point and I don’t foresee it changing.”
