The United States and the Czech Republic signed a treaty on Tuesday allowing Washington to build part of a missile defence shield in the central European state despite opposition from its former Cold War master Russia.
The deal to create a radar station southwest of Prague was marred by a failure to seal a corresponding pact with Poland, where Washington wants to put 10 interceptor rockets that would be guided by the Czech site.
Washington says the shield would defend it and its European allies against missile attacks from a foe such as Iran, and points to intelligence suggesting Tehran could develop a long-range missile capable of striking its soil by 2015.
"We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper, and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology . is still unchecked," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Prague.
Rice, who signed the treaty with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, all but ruled out going to neighbouring Poland after meeting its foreign minister on Monday.
Talks with Warsaw have run into a snag over Warsaw's demands for billions of dollars to modernise its army and air defences.
Rice said Monday's negotiations had been constructive but she would not predict whether the two sides would reach a deal.
"I believe strongly that we are at a place where these negotiations need to come to a conclusion," Rice told reporters. "We are going to have to see if we can close the remaining gap."
Under the proposed $3.5 billion (1.8 billion pound) system, an sensors and radar would be used to detect an enemy missile in flight and guide a ground-based interceptor to destroy it without using explosives.
BASES NEAR RUSSIA
Russia says the shield is a threat and has threatened to aim nuclear missiles at central Europe if it is deployed. Washington says the 10 rockets are no match for Russia's atomic arsenal.
The United States was willing to make arrangements to make the system transparent to Moscow, but Russia would also have to discuss this directly with the Czech Republic, Rice said.
