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America's change of tack is placating some and worrying others
WHEN a blue-painted Sejjil missile streaked into the Persian skies in May, to calls of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) from Iranian officials looking on, the world's weapons experts took notice. It was Iran's first successful test of a medium-range missile using solid fuel. Such rockets can be fired at short notice, from mobile launchers, or stored in silos. The older, liquid-fuelled kind are more fiddly: they need filling up shortly before launch. Just as startling was that the Sejjil, with a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles), had two "stages" fired in succession for extra thrust. In February Iran launched a small satellite into orbit. This suggests that Iran is mastering the multi-stage technology needed for scarier missiles.
Many weapons experts now think that the clerical regime's missile (and nuclear) capability is advancing fast. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said the Sejjil gave Iran the power to "send to hell" any military base from which "a bullet" could be fired against his country.
Yet a new American intelligence assessment downplays Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capability. It highlights, for reasons that are still secret, a sharper threat from shorter-range missiles that can hit American forces and allies in the Middle East and Europe.
So on September 17th Barack Obama's administration abruptly abandoned previous plans for a powerful missile-defence radar in the Czech Republic and ten interceptors in Poland. Instead, it will deploy smaller radars closer to Iran on land and on Aegis missile-tracking ships. These would be armed with the less potent Standard Missile 3 (SM-3). As the kit becomes more powerful, initial inkspots of protection would grow, covering all of Europe by about 2018 (see maps on next page).
Mr Obama calls the new system "stronger, smarter and swifter". Russia's fierce objections to George Bush's plans had nothing to do with the decision to scrap them, says the administration. It plays down any quid pro quo, such as possible Russian...