Plannen van VS voor raketbases in midden-Europa (en)

The Bush administration is planning to build an anti-missile defence system in central Europe to stop a ballistic missile threat from Iran, revisiting the late president Ronald Reagan's vision of space-based warfare.

The proposal comes amid growing concerns about Iran's nuclear energy program, believed by Washington to be a cover-up for developing nuclear weapons.

The US plan calls for installing ten anti-missile interceptors at a European site by 2011, US daily New York Times reported on Monday (22 May).

A Pentagon spokesman said they had been in discussions with European allies for several years about putting the interceptors in place.

The new scheme is the latest chapter in the 20 year-old US missile defense program, referred to as "Star Wars", and is intended to thwart a potential attack from the Middle-East.

Poland and the Czech Republic have been singled out as possible sites for the missile interceptors, with strongly pro-US Poland already expressing a will to sign a contract with Washington.

"They asked us officially if we were still interested in discussing the issue. Of course we said yes, and we are awaiting details." Polish deputy foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, told Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

The shield base would constitute the first permanent US military presence Poland, with several papers predicting that Russia will not welcome the development.

A Russian general, Yuri Baluyevsky, warned that the anti-missile site could draw Poland into the US' far-flung military adventures.

"Go ahead and build that shield. You have to think, though, what will fall on your heads afterwards. I do not foresee a nuclear conflict between Russia and the West. We do not have such plans," the general said.

"However, it is understandable that countries that are part of such a shield increase their risk."

The Czech Republic has avoided public discussion of the US project, out of fears it could become an issue in parliamentary elections next month.