US rules out major reduction of European-based nuclear warheads
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Aug 31, IRNA -- The United States has no plans to substantially reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal in Europe, the American military daily Stars and Stripes reported Tuesday. A spokesman for the US European Command (EUCOM) in Stuttgart, Germany, was quoted as saying that NATO considers nuclear weapons "an essential political and military link between the European and north American members of the alliance". "The alliance will, therefore, maintain adequate nuclear forces in Europe," according to US Navy Lt. Commander Rick Haupt. NATO`s top military leader General James L. Jones nurtured speculations earlier when he told a Belgian senate committee that American nuclear weapons would be reduced in Europe. "The reduction will be significant. Good news is on the way," Jones was cited as saying. According to a Washington-based environmental watchdog organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), America has stored at least 480 nuclear warheads in Europe of which 130 are at the Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany. The exact number of nuclear warheads and their locations are classified, EUCOM said earlier. US President George W. Bush vowed to cut by nearly half America`s nuclear warhead stockpile, a result of the 2002 Moscow Treaty reducing deployed nuclear forces. OT/1412
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