A new US intelligence assessment that Iran would need three to five more years than previously thought to build long-range missiles underpinned President Barack Obama's decision to overhaul a missile shield system in Europe, officials said on Thursday.
Obama cited unspecified intelligence about Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile program in announcing on Wednesday that he would scrap a Bush administration system designed to counter Iran's long-range missile threat and would focus instead on deploying interceptors in northern and southern Europe to defend against short- and medium-range missiles.
Behind the change, officials said on condition of anonymity, was a May 2009 National Intelligence Estimate which deemed Iran unlikely to have intercontinental missiles capable of striking the United States and all of Europe until 2015 to 2020. A previous intelligence estimate, which former President George W. Bush cited publicly in October 2007, concluded that Iran could develop that long-range capability by 2015.
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