Reuters: The United States will continue to develop a missile defense shield to counter a threat from Iran as long as it works and is cost-effective, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday.
MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – The United States will continue to develop a missile defense shield to counter a threat from Iran as long as it works and is cost-effective, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday.
Speaking at a European security conference in Munich, Biden repeated that work on missile defenses would continue "in consultation with our NATO allies and Russia."
"We will continue to develop missile defenses to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost-effective," he said.
Russia is opposed to the plan which foresees parts of the shield being sited in Poland and the Czech Republic.
But Moscow has sent conciliatory messages to new U.S. President Barack Obama, saying it will not start new missile deployments if Washington reviews plans for a missile defense system in central Europe.
(Writing by Richard Balmforth)