Washington  - The proposed US missile shield for Europe would not be effective against Iranian missiles and undermines US and Russian cooperation in preventing the Islamic state from developing nuclear weapons, according a report by a US-Russian team of scientists released Tuesday.

In addition, the US-Russian team concluded that Iran is at least five years away from developing the capability to fire a ballistic missile equipped with a nuclear warhead over long distances. They said even if Iran had the ability, carrying out such a strike would be too risky.

"It would indeed be suicidal for Ian to do so, since such an attack would inevitably elicit a massive response," the report said. "Ballistic missiles, after all, have return addresses."

The report was published by the EastWest Institute, which has offices in New York, Brussels and Moscow and commissioned the group of scientists and experts to evaluate the Iranian threat and the planned US deployment of a long-range missile defence system to the Czech Republic and Poland. Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for developing energy.

The report comes as President Barack Obama is reviewing the controversial plan initiated by the Bush administration to place the interceptors and radar system in Eastern Europe.

Obama has been less enthusiastic for the missile shield and suggested in a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that it would be less necessary if international efforts were successful in keeping Iran from nuclear weapons.

Russia views the deployment as a threat to its strategic nuclear deterrence, and the volatile issue has dragged US-Russian relations to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that she was aware of the report but said no decisions have been made about whether to proceed with the deployment.

"The Obama administration is engaged in our own strategic review, with respect to missile defense. We are not yet finished with that review," Clinton told reporters in Washington. "But we are looking at it from all angles."

The report said the missile defence system would not be effective in responding to Iranian missiles and would likely be fooled by decoys and other countermeasures. The group said a short range defence system would be better suited to the task, and called on the US and Russian government to cooperate in missile defences.

Working closely together to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapons capability would be the best solution to the threat, the experts found, but warned the planned deployment would harm partnership.

"That is a project on which the United States and Russia need to cooperate more closely," the authors said. "The European missile defence system is an impediment to greater cooperation."

Russian officials have also placed the European deployment on the table for nuclear fleet reduction negotations between US and Russian officials which resumed in Moscow on Tuesday. The two sides hope to cut a deal to replace START disarmament treaty that runs out at the end of this. (dpa)