Expert questions anti-Iran missile shield

BRUSSELS, July 15 (UPI) -- Iran can do more harm with suicide bombers than missiles, and a Europe-wide shield is unnecessary, a security expert said Friday.

Michael Elleman, a specialist from Bahrain with the Institute for International Security Studies in London, told the EUobserver: "Iran isn't really a threat to the U.S. or Western Europe, rather to Turkey, Israel and U.S. forces based in the region. Possibly also to the very southeastern corner of Europe: Greece, Romania, Bulgaria."

Elleman, who has worked with U.S., European and Russian experts assessing the missile threat to Europe, said the current deployment of ship-based interceptors in the Mediterranean was the best answer.

The United States also plans a radar installation in Turkey, land-based interceptors in Romania and eventually expanding a missile shield to cover all of Europe, a prospect that raises suspicions in Russia.

"What we've concluded in our study is that if Iran was able to target London or Paris, it would have to develop a longer-range system, and to test that, they would have to do it in flight. And you can't hide that activity," Elleman said.

"The actual damage they can do with a missile, provided it has no nuclear warhead on it, is quite narrow."