The Obama administration is willing to delay plans to construct the European Missile Defense (EMD) system as a shield against Iranian missiles, if Russia will help the United States pressure Iran to halt its nuclear materials production program that Westerners fear will be used to build atomic bombs, news agencies reported.

That dovetails with the position of a key member of Congress, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee strategic forces subcommittee. She favors slowing the EMD program, without killing it outright as Russia wishes, while instead providing more support to American missile defense systems effective against short- to medium-range missiles. (Please see full story in this issue.)

The Obama administration favors deploying missile defenses generally, but only if they first are proven to work well and are cost-effective, Vice President Biden said at a conference of European leaders in Munich. (Please see Space & Missile Defense Report, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009.)

Meanwhile, the former director of the Missile Defense Agency, retired Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering III, said that "the threat evolution continues," as Iran has launched a satellite using roughly the same technology as an intercontinental ballistic missile able to strike targets throughout the world, including Europe and the United States, which he said is "very much a concern." (Please see full story in this issue.)

Separately, William Burns, under secretary of state, said the United States is open to cooperation between Russia and the United States on the EMD system.

Discussions of possible links between the EMD radar planned for the Czech Republic and radars in Russia thus far have not reached any agreement.

William Burns, U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and afterward granted an interview to the Interfax Russian news agency.

While the United States certainly has heard months of objections to the EMD system, Burns firmly rejected the thought of Washington abandoning plans to build the EMD to guard against the Iranian threat.

"No U.S. president can afford a situation in which the United States is vulnerable to potential nuclear weapons on missiles from countries like North Korea or Iran," Interfax quoted Burns as saying. The United States also must consider the growing threat from Iran, Burns indicated.

But he added the qualifications that Biden voiced, that the EMD first must be proven workable and cost-effective.

Burns reiterated that the United States is open to cooperating with Russia, along with NATO, to form a missile shield that would protect Europe-NATO nations, Russia and the United States, he said.

But in all of this, the United States will continue to cooperate closely with the Czech Republic, and with Poland, where EMD interceptors would be placed in ground silos, he said.