Clinton says missile defense project will depend on threat from the Middle East

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has indicated that Washington would be prepared to revise its missile defense plans if it did not have to counter a growing missile threat from Iran. During talks with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg in Washington on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said that unless Iran changed its position, the US would have no choice but to push ahead with its missile defense plans. She said that plans to station elements of the US missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland remained on track but admitted they could be delayed as a result of the global crisis. The Czech foreign minister said earlier that Prague would understand and accept the need for a postponement for economic reasons. Although the respective agreements on the siting of a US tracking radar in the Czech Republic have been signed, the project still needs to win approval in the Czech Parliament.