International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 18 Jun 2010

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday that the US and Europe need to be protected by 2020 from a potential attack from Iran that could involve "scores or even hundreds of missiles."

Iran’s growing capability to launch waves of ballistic missiles at targets in Europe was the primary factor behind the Obama administration’s heavy emphasis on missile defense, Gates explained.

"If Iran were actually to launch a missile attack on Europe, it wouldn't be just one or two missiles, or a handful," Gates said. "It would more likely be a salvo kind of attack, where you would be dealing potentially with scores or even hundreds of missiles," adding that he is confident new missile defense technology currently under development, much of it in cooperation with Israel, "would give us the ability to protect our troops, our bases, our facilities and our allies in Europe."

Janes Defense Weekly reported on Friday that the number of operational ballistic missiles outside the control of the world’s major industrial powers numbered about 5,900, with a large number of them being deployed by Iran, Syria and their far east ally North Korea.

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