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A miner on strike stands in front of a burning barricade on the A-66 motorway, on the first day of a strike to protest the government's spending cuts in the mining sector, in Pola de Lena, near Oviedo, northern Spain, May 23, 2012. Spain's economy is contracting for the second time since late 2009 and four years of stagnation and recession have pushed unemployment above 24 percent, the highest rate in the European Union. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

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McCain calls for missile shield to counter Iran

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Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain addresses a League of United Latin American Citizens conference in Washington, July 8, 2008. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain addresses a League of United Latin American Citizens conference in Washington, July 8, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 9, 2008 8:26am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday called for the United States to establish a missile defense shield in Europe to counter Iranian ambitions after that country test-fired nine missiles.

The tests "demonstrate the need for effective missile defense now and in the future, and this includes missile defense in Europe as is planned with the Czech Republic and Poland," McCain said in a statement.

Iran said it fired the medium- and long-range missiles to warn the United States and Israel that it was ready to retaliate if they attacked over its disputed nuclear projects.

The United States on Tuesday signed a pact to build part of a missile defense shield in the Czech Republic to counter threats from the Middle East. The Bush administration also wants to install missile-defense facilities in Poland, although talks have stalled.

McCain's rival in the November election, Democrat Barack Obama, called for greater diplomatic engagement with Iran and tighter sanctions -- an approach McCain has criticized.

"Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy," McCain said.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, editing by Vicki Allen)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
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