Lieutenant General Henry Obering reiterated that the plan to put a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland was aimed at countering a growing Iranian missile threat, not at Russia.

"When they make increasingly aggressive statements, it's incumbent upon them to justify those," Obering told reporters here, referring to the Russians. Obering heads the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

"There is actually no justification, in our eyes, for some of their statements and some of their concern about these sites," he added.

Obering's comments came the same day that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev charged that building missile defense facilities in eastern Europe "only worsens" regional security.

"We will be forced to respond to those adequately," Medvedev said at a meeting with Russian diplomats in Moscow. "The EU and US have been warned."

The United States reached agreement last week with the Czech Republic on the stationing of a powerful targeting radar in its territory, but it has not yet closed a deal with Poland.

Obering said US and Polish negotiators have drawn up an agreement but it is being reviewed by their respective governments. Poland has made an agreement contingent on US aid in modernizing its air defenses.

The Pentagon said last month Lithuania could be an alternative.

Obering said Poland remained the preferred choice, but there were other options if the deal with Poland falls through.

"They are not as optimum as Poland, in terms of the placement of the interceptors, but from a geography perspective, there are other options that are not significantly degradable in terms of that coverage," he said.

The intensifying dispute with Russia has come against the backdrop of rising tensions with Iran, which last week test-fired as many as nine missiles, including a medium range Shahab-3 missile it said could reach Israel.

Obering said the Defense Intelligence Agency believes Iran has an active intermediate-range program and could develop an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015 to 2017.

A space-launch program announced by Iran could be used to develop the multi-stage technology needed for a long-range missile, he said.

"Russia's primary concern was that we were exaggerating the Iranian threat and, therefore, these sites in Europe must be directed at them," Obering said.

To reassure Moscow, the United States proposed building and testing the European site but not putting it into operation until the Iranian threat materialized, Obering said.

He added that Iran had already tripped one of the "triggers" proposed for judging the Iranian threat when it tested a 2,000 kilometer range missile, the Ashura, in November.

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