Immediately following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the world powers and Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that Moscow expected the United States to review its missile defense plans. Lavrov referred to the celebrated Prague speech of US President Barack Obama, who in April 2009 stated that once the Iranian threat was “eliminated,” there would no longer be a need for missile defense in Europe.

Although President Obama abandoned the controversial missile defense plans of the Bush administration, in 2009 he unveiled a new anti-missile system, known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA). Russia has never accepted the US and NATO claims that the system is designed to deal with the dual threat of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction emanating from the Middle East, and maintains that it is actually directed at its own strategic nuclear forces. A NATO anti-missile facility is now being deployed in Romania, with a further deployment planned for Poland in 2018. The Putin government perceives the missile defense shield as a means to strengthen US political control over Russia’s backyard.

Iran has the largest and most sophisticated missile arsenal in the region, and its ballistic missile program is a major threat to the Middle East and beyond. Iran is believed to be working on intercontinental ballistic missiles, and already has operational missiles with ranges of 1500 to 2500 km that can reach targets in the Middle East, Turkey (a NATO member), and southeast Europe. It has been working on an extended-range version of the Shahab-3 and a 2000 km medium-range ballistic missile, the Sejjil-2 (also known as the Ashura). NATO members Romania and Bulgaria are within range of such missiles. According to US intelligence assessments, Iran would be most likely to deliver a nuclear weapon by means of a ballistic missile.

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